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TitleMining sedimentation
CustodianWater and Marine Resources Division, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
CreatorShivaraj Gurung, Water Resources Division, Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (DPIWE)
DescriptionDistribution of major river sedimentation due to past mining activities.
Input data
Lineage
Many rivers downstream of historical mines sites are impacted by mine waste and tailings from past mining activities. The mining sedimentation data layer was developed using data from the Tasmanian Acid Drainage Reconnaissance Survey (Gurung 2001). The acid drainage spatial data layer produced for the CFEV Project was reviewed, along with historical information on downstream mining sedimentation, by John Pemberton (MRT) and Dr Shivaraj Gurung (DPIWE, formerly of MRT) to produce a historical river mining sedimentation layer. The extent to which significant mining sedimentation continues down a river was observed in the field or estimated depending on the structure of the rock type being discharged from the mining sites (finer materials travel further and more quickly than coarser sediment). The flow regime within the river affected was also taken into consideration.
The mining sedimentation spatial data was assigned to each of the river sections using the rules outlined below, and resulted in a layer depicting the presence/absence of mining sedimentation.
Data limitations
Except for the Queen and King rivers in western Tasmania, the downstream extent of mining sedimentation of river reaches impacted by historic mining is regarded as approximate. Mine sediments in the Queen and King rivers have been detected along the entire downstream reaches. For other impacted rivers, sediment transport has been estimated from flow regime and sediment types of the river reaches.
Date createdMarch 2004
Scale and coverage1:25 000; Statewide
References
Gurung, S. (2001). Tasmanian Acid Drainage Reconnaissance. 1. Acid Drainage from Abandoned Mines in Tasmania. Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2001/05. Mineral Resources Tasmania, Rosny Park.
TitleMining sedimentation
Column headingRS_MINES
Input data
Type of dataCategorical
Number of classes2
Assigning values to ecosystem spatial units
Using the mining sedimentation spatial data layer, each river section was assigned a score indicating presence (0) or absence (1) of substantial mining sedimentation (RS_MINES), based on whichever was present along the majority of the river section length.
CFEV assessment framework input