The Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines (ITGAUM)

Greetings to you all from the wonderful south shore of Lake Ontario and the city of Rochester, New York. This year, I'm here as a member of the Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines, or ITGAUM. This group has been meeting for the last 12 years as a place where professionals in geology and engineering, particularly those from state departments of transportation, can address the hazards associated with abandoned underground mines.

This year, we viewed (at the surface) the subsidence features associated with the collapse of the Akzo-Nobel Salt Mine near Genesco, New York. This is currently in remediation, after a near-catastrophic collapse in which one area dropped nearly 70 feet straight down after only 4 hours. I'll be posting pictures of the area in the near future, with more information, ideas, and thoughts on what we can learn from this local disaster.

I'll talk more then about this group, and where it's headed.

Until next time,

Trenchless Geologist

Abandoned Underground Mines - Part II.

Greetings to all my friends and readers from this, my latest post which has been much delayed. (Too much field work, but a geologist is only happy in the field).

Today, I bring you, for the first time EVER in any medium, pics of the Weber O'Fallon abandoned underground. How about THAT?! You possibly might remember it from my Abandoned Underground Mines post some time back, but I nonetheless thought it might be worthwhile to share some of the pics with you.
This first pic shows two of our team members after they've descended the scree pile into the mine, about 75 feet below the surface. As you can see, there's a lot of rubble on the pile, all of it from the collapse of the roof overhead during episodes of repeated blasting at the adjacent quarry, and from frost action.




The next pic shows one of our team members....remember, these guys are PROFESSIONALS. All of us were carrying three sources of light (like cavers do), we had gas detectors, and the woooden pole is for poking into water to see if there's an optical illusory pit. I've seen a few of these in caves....pits that look clear as glass on the top and appear benign...but you step into it, and there's a current awaiting to suck you into it.



I CANNOT overemphasize the importance of training. KIDS, DON'T EVER EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS. Even I had apprehensive feelings about going in, but I trusted in my training, in my ability to keep a cool head under pressure, my patience, and the skills of observing as a scientist to keep me out of trouble.

Until my next post, be safe and happy.

Trenchless Geologist