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International Journal of Speleology

Environmental Sciences

Iron cave

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Full-Text Articles in Speleology

Breakdown Mechanisms In Iron Caves. An Example From Brazil, Marcelo R. Barbosa, Allan D.F. Da Silva, Rafael G. De Paula, Georgete M. Dutra, Airton Barata, Iuri V. Brandi, Chrystophe R.P. Da Silva, Robert A. Osborne Jul 2019

Breakdown Mechanisms In Iron Caves. An Example From Brazil, Marcelo R. Barbosa, Allan D.F. Da Silva, Rafael G. De Paula, Georgete M. Dutra, Airton Barata, Iuri V. Brandi, Chrystophe R.P. Da Silva, Robert A. Osborne

International Journal of Speleology

An iron cave in the vicinity of a mine in Carajás, Brazil, was selected to be mined within an assisted elimination project, planned to control all mine advancement operations towards the cave along with a strict speleological physical monitoring. It allowed, in a pioneering way, the recording of events in the cave from the first signs of damage until to the total collapse of the cave. The project lasted four years and it was possible to identify and describe four breakdown mechanisms in iron caves: Fragment downfall, Block downfall, Controlling structure reactivation, and Open discontinuity movement. The mechanisms occurred independently …