HGS RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT - Integrated surface-subsurface water and solute modeling of a reclaimed in-pit oil sands mine: Effects of ground freezing and thawing
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This paper presents the results of integrated hydrologic modeling to demonstrate the role of soil freeze-thaw in hydrological response of reclaimed oil sands landforms. In this case the proposed land-reclamation involved backfilling an open-pit mine with a mixture of tailings materials. The upland portion of the reclaimed land is made-up of a series of hummocks forming a gently sloping hummock/swale system which should direct water flow to a low-lying area connected to the reclaimed landform outlet. The entire system is discretized into 13 numerical layers, and over 1.1 million computational nodes.
The results provide a strong argument for the inclusion if winter processes and coupled heat dynamics for detailed studies of integrated hydrologic processes in the Athabasca Oil Sands region.
Click here to read the research highlight on the Aquanty blog.
Study Area and Conceptual Model of the Reclamation Setting
Runoff hydrograph for simulations with and without pore-water freeze/thaw.
