Applying real time seismic monitoring technology for slope stability assessment—An Indian opencast coal mine perspective

This paper outlines the results obtained from real time microseismic monitoring of an opencast coal mine in South India. The objective of the study is to investigate the stress changes within the rockmass along the slope due to underground mine development operation and their impact on the stability of the highwall slope. The installed microseismic systems recorded the seismic triggerings down to −2 moment magnitude. In general, most of the events recorded during the monitoring period are weak in seismic energy. The study adopts a simple and more reliable tool to characterize the seismically active zone for assessing the stability of the highwall in real time. The impact of underground working on the slope is studied on the basis of the seismic event impact contours and seismic clusters. During the monitoring period, it is observed that the intensity of the overall microseismic activity along the slope due to the mine development operations did not cause any adverse impact on the highwall stability.