23. Mining at a site in northern New Mexico resulted in the generation of very t
ID: 1866918 • Letter: 2
Question
23. Mining at a site in northern New Mexico resulted in the generation of very tall waste rock slopes composed of a pyrite-bearing rock. These slopes have become unstable over time resulting from pyrite oxidation. You have been hired as a bio- geotechnical consultant for this site. If you wanted to look at the effects of microbial activity on the pyrite oxidation process what tests might you want to complete? There are no right or wrong answers here and you may assume that you have access to a full chemical and biological laboratory as well as the More Hall geotechnical laboratoryExplanation / Answer
The tests that need to be performed for this particular problem are:
Geotechnical tests:
(1) Shear strength test
(2) Weathering test
(3) Swelling test
(4) Swelling pressure test
(5) CBR tests
Chemical tests:
(6) Total sulfur analysis
(7) Carbonate carbon contents analysis
(8) Leaching test
(9) Oxidation test
Biological tests:
(10) Cell counts test
(11) Qulity trimming and filtering
(12) Statistical and phylogenetic analysis