Enormous headward and gully erosion in a floodplain area reclaimed for open-cast lignite mining during the July 2021 flood in the Inde River valley (Western Germany)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Background The July flood 2021 at the mountain front of the Eifel-Ardennes Mountains and their foreland resulted in the flooding of the lignite mining area of Inden in Germany. The mining activities resulted in large-scale anthropogenic changes to the relief and fluvial system, leading to a landscape that is no longer adjusted to the recent process-response system. This paper concentrates on the Inde River, where lignite mining led to the relocation of a 5-km-long river section. The flood event resulted in the temporary avulsion of the Inde River into the former channel and, ultimately, in the flooding of the open-cast lignite mine Inden. Results The flooding of the open-cast lignite mine Inden led to headwall erosion and enormous sediment mobilisation, mobilising more than half a million cubic metres of sediment within a few hours, forming a 700-m-long deeply incised channel cut. Thereby, the underlying bedrock, near-subsurface man-made structures, and former river channels influence the erosional processes to different degrees. Surface erosion is likely to be the decisive process, and subsurface erosion is likely to play a secondary role. In both cases, former channels and mill ditches were likely impacting the course of erosional processes. Conclusions During high flood events open-cast mining sites in floodplains are endangered by enormous erosion and sediment transport within a short period of time (several hours). Understanding such complex erosion and depositional processes in open-cast mining areas could provide a blueprint for geomorphological processes and hazards in these anthropogenically shaped fluvial landscapes. Further, information on historic impact in the area is crucial to estimate potential risks.
Source: Environmental Sciences Europe
Institution: RWTH Aachen University
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,090
Funder: RWTH Aachen University
OpenAlex ID: W4403380741