CHARACTERIZATION OF ROCK MASS BEHAVIOR USING MINING INDUCED MICROSEISMICITY

Several case studies are presented on the use of seismic techniques to map active structures, evaluate changes in stress levels, and identif y the conditions leading to large magnitude seismic events and the gen eration of rockbursts in Canadian mines. The results suggest that micr oseismicity can be used to identify the orientation of active fracture s; define regions of relatively high and low stress and those most lik ely to host a rockburst; determine the role of local stress on observe d shear failures; and identify the path of stress transfer associated with the remote triggering of rockbursts. Additionally, the conditions leading to rockbursts can be characterized by a significant increase in the clustering of microseismic events along the fault plane orienta tion of an impending event, and an increase in the effective stress le vels. It is concluded that the analysis of microseismicity provides th e means for remotely monitoring rock mass behaviour as a result of min ing.