METHOD FOR MONITORING CONDITION OF WATERPROOF STRATUMS AT POTASSIUM SALT DEPOSITS Russian patent published in 2007 - IPC G01V9/00 

FIELD: mining industry, possible use for monitoring conditions of extraction and operation of potassium salt deposits by detecting penetrable sections in waterproof stratum and, respectively, by predicting probable destructions of aforementioned stratum including emergency and catastrophic situations.

SUBSTANCE: in accordance to invention, before beginning the extraction of deposit, ⁴⁰Ar concentrations which are characteristic for given deposit are measured in ground-adjacent atmospheric layer by analyzing air samples with usage of laser spectroscopy method based on profiles which are evenly distributed across the area of shifting rock masses at the section of deposit targeted for extraction, while number of profiles n and number of fixed measurements for every one of them n₀ are set based on experiment planning, and average statistical characteristic ⁴⁰Ar concentration is calculated with given level of deviation from measured values of characteristic ⁴⁰Ar concentrations and with sufficiently high probability of obtaining them, while when a ⁴⁰Ar concentration recorded at any one profile exceeds average statistical characteristic concentration after beginning the deposit resource extraction, extraction is paused and mining geo-mechanical research is conducted on certain section with probable emergency situation and technical mining operations are designed to prevent flooding of the whole potassium pit mining field.

EFFECT: simplified operations, lower monitoring costs, lower laboriousness of waterproof stratum condition monitoring operations, increased safety of operations due to increased immediacy of monitoring.

2 cl, 2 dwg