Reactive transport modeling of geology, quarrying, mining, and geological hazards

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Gypsum deposits are well known in the Upper Amaranth Formation, west of Lake Manitoba and have beenused for several decades. However, gypsum readily dissolves when it comes in contact with water, enrichingthe soil and groundwater but literally can create holes in the gypsum formation. With increasing size of thesubsurface holes in the gypsum the ability to stabilize the overlying soil layer reduces so that sinkholes canform damaging the infrastructure. Sinkholes due to gypsum dissolution can be found in Canada and worldwide,e.g. RM of Alonsa, MB, Michigan, USA, and Asse-Heeseberg Ridge, Germany.In this proposed research, the main objective is to develop a geochemical model to estimate gypsumdissolution rates in the RM of Alonsa. The model will be used to predict areas which are prone to sinkholedevelopment utilizing three-dimensional reactive transport modeling of the shallow formations. The key totechnology transfer is the integration of reaction kinetics into a three-dimensional transport model. This kindof modeling is cutting-edge technology and will allow the industry partner Stantec to expand into reactivetransport modeling of geology, quarrying, mining, and geological hazards. This will allow them to developmore sophisticated models which are able to better protection the environment and which will allow Stantec tobid on more projects.