Erosion Risk Assessment of the Jabiluka Mine Site, Northern Territory, Australia
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 6
Abstract
This research utilizes Monte Carlo simulations of soil loss and runoff equations to assess impacts of the Jabiluka Uranium Mine site on Ngarradj, the downstream waterway. Ngarradj, a stream of high conservation value, debouches into wetlands of international importance within Kakadu National Park. The stream has a low background mean annual suspended-sediment concentration of determined through monitoring. Erosion modeling indicated that a mean suspended-sediment increase of about was expected from construction of the Jabiluka site’s waste rock dumps at Year 30 of the operation. The model indicated that the probability that the Jabiluka site activity would result in exceedence of the water-quality guideline for stream suspended sediment was 0.98 for that year. The evaluation was able to reach this conclusion based on 5 years of stream suspended-sediment concentration data and is highly conservative as a 1:1 sediment delivery ratio is assumed. Application of the simple methodology here not only enabled greater certainty concerning the risks of downstream sediment impact, but also identification of important management strategies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Alexander, E. B. (1981). “Volume estimates of coarse fragments in soils: A combination of visual and weighing procedures.” J. Soil Water Conservat., 36, 360–361.
2.
Allison, L.E. ( 1965). “Organic carbon.” Methods of soil analysis, C. A. Black, ed., Part 2, American Society of Agronomy, 1367–1378.
3.
Atkinson, G. (1984). “Erosion damage following bushfires.” J. Soil Cons. NSW, 40, 4–9.
4.
Bonta, J. V. (2000). “Impact of coal surface mining and reclamation on suspended sediment in three Ohio watersheds.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 36(4), 869–887.
5.
Brown, V. M., Johnson, A., Murray, A. S., Noller, B., and Riley, G. H. ( 1985). “Receiving water standards for the Alligator Rivers Region.” Alligator Rivers Region Research Summary Rep. 1984–1985, Supervising Scientist for the Alligator Rivers Region, Canberra, Australia, 111–119.
6.
Carson, L.J., Haines, P.W., Brakel, A., Pietsch, B.A., and Ferenczi, P.A. ( 1999). “1:250000 Geological map series explanatory notes milingimbi SD 53-2.” Dept. of Mines and Energy, Northern Territory Geological Survey and Australian Geological Survey Organisation, Darwin, Australia.
7.
Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. ( 2002). 2001 Annual Rep., Environmental Resources of Australia, Sydney, Australia.
8.
Erskine, W. D., Saynor, M. J., Evans, K. G., and Boggs, G. S. ( 2001). “Geomorphic research to determine the off-site impacts of the Jabiluka site on Swift (Ngarradj) Creek, Northern Territory.” Supervising Scientist Rep. No. 158, Supervising Scientist, Darwin, Australia.
9.
Evans, K. G. (2000). “Methods for assessing mine site rehabilitation design for erosion impact.” Austral. J. Soil Res., 38(2), 231–248.
10.
Evans, K. G., Saynor, M. J., and Willgoose, G. R. (1999). “Changes in hydrology, sediment loss, and micro-topography of a vegetated mine waste rock dump impacted by fire.” Land Degrad. Dev., 10, 507–522.
11.
Evans, K. G., and Willgoose, G. R. (2000). “Post-mining landform evolution modelling. II. Effects of vegetation and surface ripping.” Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 25(8), 803–823.
13.
Kakadu Board of Management and Parks Australia. ( 1998). Kakadu National Park plan of management, Australian Government Publishing Series, Canberra, Australia.
14.
Kinhill and Associates in association with Energy Resources Australia North. ( 1998). The Jabiluka Mill Alternative Public Environment Rep., Energy Resources of Australia, Jabiru NT, Australia.
15.
Locher, H. ( 1997). “Sediment transport in the King River, Tasmania. Mount Lyell Remediation Research and Demonstration Program.” Supervising Scientist Rep. No. 120, Supervising Scientist, Canberra, Australia.
16.
Mitchell, J.K., and Bubenzer, G.D. ( 1980). “Soil loss estimation.” Soil Erosion, M. J. Kirkby and R. P. C. Morgan, eds., Wiley, Chichester, U.K., 17–62.
17.
Moliere, D.R. ( 2000). “Temporal trends in erosion and hydrology characteristics for a post-mining rehabilitated landform at Energy Resources of Australia Ranger Mine, Northern Territory.” Master of Engineering thesis, The Univ. of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
18.
Moliere, D. R., Boggs, G. S., Evans, K. G., Saynor, M. J., and Erskine, W. D. ( 2002). “Baseline hydrology characteristics of the Ngarradj catchment, Northern Territory.” Supervising Scientist Rep. No. 172, Supervising Scientist, Darwin, Australia.
19.
Moliere, D.R., Evans, K.G., Saynor, M.J., and Erskine, W.D. ( 2000). “Suspended sediment loads in the receiving catchment of the Jabiluka uranium mine site, Northern Territory.” Proc., Hydro 2000 3rd Int. Hydrology and Water Resources Symp., The Institution of Engineers, Perth, Australia, 37–43.
20.
Pentz, S. B., and Kostaschuk, R. A. (1999). “Effect of placer mining on suspended sediment in reaches of sensitive fish habitat.” Environ. Geol., 37(1–2), 78–89.
21.
Pilgrim, D.H. ( 1987). Australian rainfall and runoff, Institution of Engineers, Barton, Australia.
23.
Press, W.H., Teukolsky, S.A., Vetterling, W.T., and Flannery, B.P. ( 1992). “Chapter 7, random numbers.” Numerical Recipes in C, 2nd Ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K.
25.
Renard, K. G., and Ferreira, V. A. (1993). “RUSLE model description and database sensitivity.” J. Environ. Qual., 22, 458–466.
24.
Renard, K.G., Foster, G.R., Weesies, G.A., McCool, D.K., and Yoder, D.C. ( 1997). Predicting soil erosion by water: A guide conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), Agriculture Handbook No. 703, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Phoenix.
26.
Renard, K. G., and Freimund, J. R. (1994). “Using monthly precipitation data to estimate the R-factor in the revised USLE.” J. Hydrol., 157, 287–306.
27.
Renard, K.G., Laflen, J.M., Foster, G.R., and McCool, D.K. ( 1994). “The revised universal soil loss equation.” Soil erosion research methods, 2nd Ed., R. Lal, ed., Soil Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa, 105–124.
28.
Robinson, A. R. (1977). “Relationship between soil erosion and sediment delivery.” Int. Assoc. Hyd. Sci., 122, 159–167.
29.
Rosewell, C. J. ( 1993). “SOILLOSS—A program to assist in the selection of management paractices to reduce erosion.” Technical handbook No. 11, 2nd Ed., Soil Conservation Service, Sydney, Australia.
30.
Simanton, J.R., Rawitz, E., and Shirley, E.D. ( 1982). “Effects of rock fragments on erosion of semiarid rangeland soils.” Erosion and productivity of soils containing rock fragments, Spec. Publication No. 13, Soil Science Society America, 65–72.
31.
Stowar, M. ( 1997). “Effects of suspended solids on benthic macroinvertebrate fauna downstream of a road crossing, Jim Jim Creek, Kakadu National Park.” BSci Honours thesis, Univ. of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.
32.
Walling, D. E., and Webb, B. W. (1985). “Estimating the discharge of contaminants to coastal waters by rivers: some cautionary comments.” Mar. Pollution Bull., 16(12), 488–492.
34.
Willgoose, G.R., Bras, R.L., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. ( 1989). A physically based channel network and catchment evolution model, TR322, Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 9 • Issue 6 • November 2004
Pages: 512 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 ASCE.
History
Published online: Oct 15, 2004
Published in print: Nov 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.