Design of store-release covers to minimize deep drainage in the mining and waste-disposal industries: Results from a modelling analyses based on ecophysiological principles

Eamus, D; Yunusa, I; Taylor, D; Whitley, R

Design of store-release covers to minimize deep drainage in the mining and waste-disposal industries: Results from a modelling analyses based on ecophysiological principles

Eamus, D

Yunusa, I

Taylor, D Whitley, R

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Hydrological Processes, 2013, 27 (26), pp. 3815 - 3824
Issue Date:: 2013-12-30

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Eamus, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2765-8040	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Yunusa, I https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7456-3293	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Taylor, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Whitley, R	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-12-30	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Hydrological Processes, 2013, 27 (26), pp. 3815 - 3824	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0885-6087	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/26082
dc.description.abstract	Sustainable long-term storage of municipal waste and waste rock from mining activities in waste dumps (either above or below the land surface) requires minimization of percolation of rainwater into and then through stored waste material. There has been increasing attention given to the use of store-release covers (transpirational covers) to achieve this. However, the design of such covers remains problematic because of the unique combinations of weather, vegetation composition, soils and their interactions that determine the efficacy of each design that could be available for the construction of the covers. The aim of the work described here was to use ecophysiological knowledge of soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) interactions through the application of a detailed mechanistic model of the SPA continuum. We examined the relative influence of soil depth, soil texture, leaf area index and rainfall as determinants of rates of evapotranspiration and water budget for several different theoretical cover designs. We show that minimizing deep drainage requires a cover that has the following attributes: (i) a water storage capacity that is large enough to store the volume of water that is received as rainfall in above-average wet months/seasons; (ii) a root distribution that explores the entire depth of the cover; (iii) a leaf area index that is present all year sufficient to evapotranspire monthly rainfall; and (iv) takes into account the intra-annual and inter-annual variability in rainfall and other climatic variables that drive ET. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Hydrological Processes	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1002/hyp.9482	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Engineering	en_US
dc.title	Design of store-release covers to minimize deep drainage in the mining and waste-disposal industries: Results from a modelling analyses based on ecophysiological principles	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	26	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	27	en_US
utslib.for	0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience	en_US
utslib.for	0905 Civil Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	0907 Environmental Engineering	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	26	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	27	en_US

Abstract:

Sustainable long-term storage of municipal waste and waste rock from mining activities in waste dumps (either above or below the land surface) requires minimization of percolation of rainwater into and then through stored waste material. There has been increasing attention given to the use of store-release covers (transpirational covers) to achieve this. However, the design of such covers remains problematic because of the unique combinations of weather, vegetation composition, soils and their interactions that determine the efficacy of each design that could be available for the construction of the covers. The aim of the work described here was to use ecophysiological knowledge of soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) interactions through the application of a detailed mechanistic model of the SPA continuum. We examined the relative influence of soil depth, soil texture, leaf area index and rainfall as determinants of rates of evapotranspiration and water budget for several different theoretical cover designs. We show that minimizing deep drainage requires a cover that has the following attributes: (i) a water storage capacity that is large enough to store the volume of water that is received as rainfall in above-average wet months/seasons; (ii) a root distribution that explores the entire depth of the cover; (iii) a leaf area index that is present all year sufficient to evapotranspire monthly rainfall; and (iv) takes into account the intra-annual and inter-annual variability in rainfall and other climatic variables that drive ET. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/26082