Monitoring erosion off unvegetated mine tailings facilities and natural slopes using high-resolution, digital stereo-photogrammetry

摘要

Monitoring erosion off steep, unvegetated mine tailings slopes is difficult and few reliable data have been gathered. Difficulties include the isolation of a section down the slope from which measurements are to be taken, the collection of the high volumes of sediment from unvegetated mine slopes, and the remoteness of many mine sites. This paper describes a method of monitoring erosion on steep, unvegetated mine and natural slopes using high resolution digital stereo photogrammetry, and its application to largely unvegetated mine tailings storage facility slopes, A baseline for positioning the digital camera is established, and a single target is located on the slope. The baseline and target are surveyed so that their relative positions can be accurately determined. The photographs are processed using the survey information, and a three-dimensional image produced using the computer program 3D MAPPER. The three-dimensional image is then imported to a topographic program such as SURFER, from which the volume of erosion gullies can be determined. Subsequent photographs taken of the same slope, from the same baseline, enable the erosion over time to be monitored. Close-up photographs of the surface texture of the slope may be processed using the proprietary computer program Split-Desktop giving an estimate of the particle size distribution of the surface particles, but results are not reported herein.