Subsidence due to longwall mining creates long-term environmental effects,
such as alteration of surface drainage patterns, changes in aquifer charact
eristics, and water-level drops in wells near the mine panel. Evaluating th
e impact of longwall mining on groundwater resources requires a knowledge o
f aquifer properties, both in front of, and behind, the mining face. In thi
s study, we develop a a method based on the one-dimensional flow equation,
and utilize type-curves to estimate an aquifer hydraulic diffusivity value
from water level versus time measurements at a single well. We tested the m
ethod by calculating the hydraulic diffusivity value of the Trivoli Sandsto
ne aquifer over a long-wall coal mine in the Illinois Basin, and our result
s reasonably close to reported values. The presented method significantly r
educes the computational effort involved in: (1) predicting mine-induced wa
ter-level drops, and (2) determining the hydraulic conductivity and storage
coefficient value representative of a larger aquifer volume, as compared t
o conventional aquifer test methods.