The Use of Digital Terrain Models to Estimate the Pace of Filling the Pit of a Central European Granite Quarry with Water

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the pace of filling one of the deepest European granite quarries with water. A DTM (digital terrain model) based on data from LiDAR ALS (light detection and ranging airborne laser scanning) was used to create a model of the pit of the Strzelin I granite quarry and to determine the reach and surface area of the direct catchment of the excavation pit. The increase in the volume of water in the excavation pit was determined. Analogue maps and DTM were used to calculate the maximum depth of the pit (113.3 m), its surface area (9.71 ha), and its capacity (5.1 million m3). The volume of water collected in the excavation pit during the years 2011–2018 was determined based on the analogue base map and the DTM. The result was 0.335 million m3. Based on the data made available by the mining company, the correlation of the DTM with the orthophotomap of the mining area and additional field measurements, the ordinates of the water level in the years 2011–2018 were determined. Initially, the water surface level in the quarry was located on the ordinate of 66.6 m a.s.l. (July 20, 2011). After the pumping of water was discontinued, the level rose to 96.1 m a.s.l. (January 28, 2018). The increase in the water volume in the quarry pit during specific periods was determined (actual retention increase). The obtained data on the volume of the retained water referred to the period during which it accumulated in the quarry. On average, the net increase in water retention in the excavation pit was 138.537 m3∙d−1, and the calculated net supply from the direct catchment (16.04 ha) was 101.758 m3∙d−1. The use of DTM and measurements of the water level in the excavation pit seem to be an efficient means of estimating the pace of spontaneous filling of the quarry with water supplied from the direct physiographic catchment.