ANALYSIS OF BLAST-INDUCED VIBRATIONS AT A LIMESTONE QUARRY

5th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2005, www.sgem.org, SGEM2005 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 13-17, 2005, 287- 292pp

ABSTRACT

General environmental problems generated during blast activities in open pit mining
are ground vibrations, air pressure, fly rock, dust and poisonous gases and fumes. In some
cases, these problems can be the source of some continual disagreements (fear, right and
unrighteous complaints, etc.) on inhabitants living close to a blast-based production in a
quarry as well as damage on the buildings situated nearby.
In this study, the ground vibrations produced by blasting operations performed at a
limestone quarry were searched in terms of the potential impacts on the school, mosque,
historic place and village houses. Environmental effects of ground vibrations and air blast
parameters arisen from the blast shots were searched. In order to decrease these impacts, a
statistical analyze was carried out to obtain PPV and scaled distance (SD) parameters for a
whole mine, benches and shot direction. Determination coefficients estimated from the
regression analyzes of the benches and shot directions were found to be higher than the
coefficients calculated for the whole mine. In addition to these, vibration frequencies, acceleration and peak displacement parameters of the shots were investigated and their
environmental effects were evaluated.