Book Description

In 1994, subsidence features were identified on Interstate 70 in eastern Ohio. These features were caused by collapse of old mine workings beneath the highway. An attempt was made to delineate these features using geophysical methods with no avail. The geophysical methods that were tried comprised ground penetrating radar, seismic refraction, and electromagnetics. Subsequently, drilling was employed as the primary technique to delineate the voids. The collapse was believed to be caused by active mine subsidence which was exacerbated by the dewatering of adjacent abandoned mine workings. It is postulated that there was too much overburden for the radar to penetrate to the mined interval at the designated site. The tunnels were too deep to be detected by the electromagnetic technique utilized, and the seismic refraction method lacked adequate resolution to delineate the voids.