AI Approaches to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in the Mining and Metals Sector Using AutoML and Bayesian Modeling

Mining engineers and environmental experts around the world still identify and evaluate environmental risks associated with mining activities using field-based, basic qualitative methods The main objective is to introduce an innovative AI-based approach for the construction of environmental impact assessment (EIA) indexes that statistically reflects and takes into account the relationships between the different environmental factors, finding relevant patterns in the data and minimizing the influence of human bias. For that, an AutoML process developed with Bayesian networks is applied to the construction of an interactive EIA index tool capable of assessing dynamically the potential environmental impacts of a slate mine in Galicia (Spain) surrounded by the Natura 2000 Network. The results obtained show the moderate environmental impact of the whole exploitation; however, the strong need to protect the environmental factors related to surface and subsurface runoff, species or soil degradation was identified, for which the information theory results point to a weight between 6 and 12 times greater than not influential variables.

Hydrological Connectivity in a Permafrost Tundra Landscape near Vorkuta, North-European Arctic Russia

Hydrochemical and geophysical data collected during a hydrological survey in September 2017, reveal patterns of small-scale hydrological connectivity in a small water track catchment in the north-European Arctic. The stable isotopic composition of water in different compartments was used as a tracer of hydrological processes and connectivity at the water track catchment scale. Elevated tundra patches underlain by sandy loams were disconnected from the stream and stored precipitation water from previous months in saturated soil horizons with low hydraulic conductivity. At the catchment surface and in the water track thalweg, some circular hollows, from 0.2 to 0.4 m in diameter, acted as evaporative basins with low deuterium excess (d-excess) values, from 2‰ to 4‰. Observed evaporative loss suggests that these hollows were disconnected from the surface and shallow subsurface runoff. Other hollows were connected to shallow subsurface runoff, yielding d-excess values between 12‰ and 14‰, close to summer precipitation. ‘Connected’ hollows yielded a 50% higher dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content, 17.5 ± 5.3 mg/L, than the ‘disconnected’ hollows, 11.8 ± 1.7 mg/L. Permafrost distribution across the landscape is continuous but highly variable. Open taliks exist under fens and hummocky depressions, as revealed by electric resistivity tomography surveys. Isotopic evidence supports upward subpermafrost groundwater migration through open taliks under water tracks and fens/bogs/depressions and its supply to streams via shallow subsurface compartment. Temporal variability of isotopic composition and DOC in water track and a major river system, the Vorkuta River, evidence the widespread occurrence of the described processes in the large river basin. Water tracks effectively drain the tundra terrain and maintain xeric vegetation over the elevated intertrack tundra patches.

Shrub vegetation shores strengthening and protection in Kalachevsky district of Volgograd area

The critical abrasion situation manifests itself on the coastal part of the Kalachevsky district due to the increasing anthropogenic load. The most important element of the complex of measures to combat silting of reservoirs and coastal abrasion, as well as an effective measure to strengthen the banks is forest vegetation. The objectives of the research were to study the soil, forest and climatic conditions of the object under study, to develop an assortment of shrubs and features of the formation of protective forest stands, as well as criteria for selecting an adapted assortment of tree and shrub vegetation and methods of caring for the soil and plantings. During the research, the most promising types of shrubs for creating upper protective forest stands were identified: Ligustrum vilgare L., Berberis vulgaris L., Cotoneaster lucidus Schltdl., Amelanchier Medik., Ribes aureum Pursh., Rosa canina L. It was found that the useful role of forest stands is manifested in their ability to convert surface runoff into subsurface runoff, to clean surface stock water from fine-grained soil, to weaken the speed of movement and to extinguish the energy of waves, binding the soil with roots. Recommendations are given for the creation and placement of anti-abrasion plantings, depending on the steepness and height of the slope. It is stated that one of the main measures for the care of the aboveground part of the plantings is the pruning of the crown, carried out taking into account the biological characteristics of their growth and development, including the removal of dry and damaged branches, thinning of the crown, preservation of the previously given crown size, rejuvenation of the crown. It is recommended to place shrubs depending on the landscape, soil and climatic conditions and features of abrasive processes in areas of constant, periodic, episodic flooding and strong moderate and weak flooding of the coastline.

Water budget and subsurface runoff determination for small Alpine catchments using WaSIM

<p>Assessing the water balance including subsurface runoff in high Alpine catchments is still a major challenge due to environmental and meteorological complexity, and mostly data-lacking hydrology. The aim of this study is the determination of the water balance components and water budget with focus on approximation of interflow, subsurface runoff and groundwater interactions, depending on sediment and bedrock properties.</p><p>In this process we investigate a small, high data providing Alpine catchment in the Wipp Valley (Tyrol, AT) to evaluate the best modelling approach in order to apply it on catchments along the Austrian Brenner axis. Thus, a direct model comparison of the main study catchment, with its (moderate data providing) neighbouring valley is carried out. The main study catchment (Padaster Valley) covers 11.2 km<sup>2</sup> and is located east of Steinach am Brenner in the Wipp Valley. Due to its partially usage as a deposital site, respectively a landfill for the tunnel excavation material of the Brenner Base Tunnel, this valley represents a highly interesting site in a hydrological aspect. Thus, the Padaster Valley is highly monitored and hence predestined for hydrological investigations. Hydrological data such as discharge is measured high frequently on four gauges, meteorological data on two gauges. An additional study catchment (Navis Valley) covers 63 km<sup>2</sup> and is located northerly next the Padaster Valley. Seven gauges provide meteorological data, however, continuous discharge data is just measured at the valley mouth. Further meteorological data for both areas will be contributed by the ZAMG (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik), whose INCA model provide a high spatial resolution dataset of 1km. However, in order to gain a better overall understanding of subsurface runoff and hydrogeological processes, geological data will be considered and incorporated/integrated in the modelling process. This includes geological maps, - cross sections and geophysical analysis, which help to estimate the bedrock topography, and consequently the volume as well as deeper seated hydrogeological properties of the sediment cover. In this context, continuous data from 7 groundwater observation wells provide information regarding groundwater levels and hydraulic head. To increase the model accuracy regarding subsurface flow processes, subsurface-depending runoff types after Pirkl & Sausgruber (2015) are applied. Furthermore, several maps such as land use, surface runoff coefficient and soil map including grain size distribution of the layers have been compiled by in-situ fieldwork for this study. In order to model the water budget, subsurface runoff and overall hydrological slope properties, the distributed hydrological Model WaSIM (Richards version; Schulla, 1997) is applied. The model is based on a modular system which uses physically-based algorithms.</p><p>The present study is been carried out by the Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW) in collaboration with the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT-SE).</p>

Comparison of the event and seasonal hillslope-stream hydrologic connectivity in an agricultural headwater catchment

<p>In agricultural catchments, subsurface runoff is an important process for streamflow generation and the transport of nutrients and pollutants within and out of the catchment. Where and when subsurface runoff occurs is linked to the hydrologic connectivity in the catchment. This study compares spatial patterns of the connectivity between the hillslope and the stream on the event and seasonal scale. We analyse streamflow and groundwater responses to 53 precipitation events and their seasonal dynamics over two years in the Hydrologic Open Air Laboratory (HOAL), a small (66 ha) agricultural headwater catchment in Lower Austria. We quantify the connectivity in terms of Spearman correlation, hysteresis index and peak-to-peak time between streamflow and groundwater dynamics. It shows a clear spatial pattern, i.e. the connectivity is greatest in the riparian zone and diminishes further away from the stream where the groundwater table is deeper. This is reflected in the significant correlation of connectivity to the topographic indices and groundwater depth. Groundwater connectivity to the stream on the seasonal scale is higher than that on the event scale, indicating that groundwater contributes more to the baseflow than event runoff.</p>

A Reliable U-trough Runoff Collection Method for Quantifying the Migration Loads of Nutrients at Different Soil Layers under Natural Rainfall

Long-term quantification of the migration loads of subsurface runoff (SSR) and its collateral soil nutrients among different soil layers are still restricted by the runoff collection method. This study tested the reliability of the U-trough collection methods (UCM), compared with the seepage plate collection method (SPM), in monitoring the runoff, sediment and nutrient migration loads from different soil layers (L1: 0–20 cm depth; L2: 20–40 cm depth; L3: 40–60 cm depth) for two calendar years under natural rainfall events. The results suggested that the U-trough could collect nearly 10 times the SSR sample volume of the seepage plate and keep the sampling probability more than 95% at each soil layer. The annual SSR flux from L1 to L3 was 403.4 mm, 271.9 mm, and 237.4 mm under the UCM, 14.35%, 10.56%, and 8.41% lower than those under the SPM, respectively. The annual net migration loads of sediment, TN, and TP from the L1 layer under the UCM were 49.562 t/km2, 19.113 t/km2 and 0.291 t/km2, and 86.62%, 41.21% and 81.78% of them were intercepted by the subsoil layers (L2 and L3), respectively. While their migration loads under the SPM were 48.708 t/km2, 22.342 t/km2 and 0.291 t/km2, and 88.24%, 53.06% and 80.42% of them were intercepted, respectively. Under both methods, the average leached total n (TN), total p (TP) concentrations per rainfall event and their annual migrated loads at each soil layer showed no significant difference. In conclusion, the UCM was a reliable quantitative method for subsurface runoff, sediment, and soil nutrient migration loads from diverse soil layers of purple soil sloping cultivated lands. Further studies are needed to testify the availability in other lands.

Soil Tillage and Crop Growth Effects on Surface and Subsurface Runoff, Loss of Soil, Phosphorus and Nitrogen in a Cold Climate

Most studies on the effects of tillage operations documented the effects of tillage on losses through surface runoff. On flat areas, the subsurface runoff is the dominating pathway for water, soil and nutrients. This study presents results from a five-year plot study on a flat area measuring surface and subsurface runoff losses. The treatments compared were (A) autumn ploughing with oats, (B) autumn ploughing with winter wheat and (C) spring ploughing with spring barley (n = 3). The results showed that subsurface runoff was the main source for soil (67%), total phosphorus (76%), dissolved reactive phosphorus (75%) and total nitrogen (89%) losses. Through the subsurface pathway, the lowest soil losses occurred from the spring ploughed plots. Losses of total phosphorus through subsurface runoff were also lower from spring ploughing compared to autumn ploughing. Total nitrogen losses were higher from autumn ploughing compared to other treatments. Losses of total nitrogen were more influenced by autumn ploughing than by a nitrogen surplus in production. Single extreme weather events, like the summer drought in 2018 and high precipitation in October 2014 were crucial to the annual soil and nutrient losses. Considering extreme weather events in agricultural management is a necessary prerequisite for successful mitigation of soil and nutrient losses in the future.

Falcon constructed artificial catchment for whole ecosystem manipulation how we build it and what are the first results

<p>Subsurface processes are often omitted in catchment studies here we presented artificial catchment as a new tool to study and budget these processes on catchment level.</p><p>Falcon is and artificial  catchment that build in Sokolov post mining sites Catchment consist from four separate micro catchments (pools) each ) 0.25ha in area and 2m in depth which are hydrologically isolated  and filled by post mining overburden. Two fields were levelled while in two was wave like surface was produced to mimic situation after heaping.  Leveled micro catchments were planted by alder (Alnus glutinosa).</p><p>Catchment allow to study meteorological variables, surface and subsurface runoff,  and other key ecosystem parameters (water table depth chemical composition of pore water, soil respiration, gas exchange between ecosystem and surrounding atmosphere using eddy tower etc.). First result show large erosion on waves then on levelled sites however large proportion of material eroded from flat site leave the site while in wave like surface most of it is trapped in depression between waves. Subsurface runoff form large proportion of total runoff in wavy sites than in flat sites. Stable water table established quickly in both types of catchments} few months after catchment establishment. Flat sites show higher initial diversity of plants.</p>

Complementing ERA5 and E-OBS20 with high resolution river discharge

<p>The 0.5° resolution of many global observational datasets is not sufficient for the requirements of current state-of-the-art regional climate model (RCM) simulations over Europe. Here, the ERA5 reanalysis of the ECMWF (C3S 2017) and E-OBS data (Cornes et al. 2018) are frequently used as reference datasets when RCM results are evaluated on resolutions higher than 0.5°. In addition, ERA5 data are also commonly used to force regional ocean models. As ERA data do not comprise river discharges, the lateral forcing of freshwater inflow from land is taken from other data sources, such as station data, runoff climatologies, etc. However, these data are not necessarily consistent with the ERA5 forcing over the ocean surface. If such data are derived from station data, they are only available for specific rivers and not spatially homogeneously distributed for all coastal areas. In addition, they might not be representative for the river mouth if the respective station location is too far away from the river mouth, which is often the case.</p><p>In order to allow a consistent forcing of river discharges and evaluation of simulated hydrological fluxes, we extended ERA5 and E-OBS v20.0e with high resolution river discharge. This also allows a consistent assessment of hydrological changes from these two datasets. The discharge was simulated with the recently developed 5 Min. version of the Hydrological discharge (HD) model (Hagemann et al., submitted). Note that for the development of this HD model version, no river specific parameter adjustments were conducted so that the HD model is generally applicable for climate change studies and over ungauged catchments.</p><p>The HD model requires gridded fields of surface and subsurface runoff as input with a daily temporal resolution or higher. As no large-scale observations of these variables exist, they need to be calculated by a land surface scheme or hydrology model using observed or re-analyzed meteorological data. Here, we used the HydroPy global hydrological model, which is the successor of the MPI-HM model (Stacke and Hagemann 2012). The latter has contributed to the WATCH Water Model Intercomparison Project (WaterMIP; Haddeland et al. 2011) and the inter-sectoral impact model intercomparison project (ISIMIP; Warszawski et al. 2014). Note that ERA5 also comprises archived fields of surface and subsurface runoff, but it turned out that its separation of total runoff is not suitable to generate adequate river discharges with the HD model. In our presentation, we evaluate the simulated discharge using various metrics and consider significant discharge trends over Europe.</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>C3S (2017): ERA5: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store (CDS)</p><p>Cornes, R., et al. (2018) J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 123, doi:10.1029/2017JD028200</p><p>Haddeland, I., et al. (2011). J. Hydrometeorol. 12, doi: 10.1175/2011jhm1324.1</p><p>Hagemann, S., T. Stacke and H. Ho-Hagemann, High resolution discharge simulations over Europe and the Baltic Sea catchment. Frontiers in Earth Sci., submitted.</p><p>Stacke, T. and Hagemann, S. (2012). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 16, doi: 10.5194/hess-16-2915-2012</p><p>Warszawski, L., et al. (2014) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1312330110</p>