Alluvial Fans Formed by Channelized Fluvial and Sheet Flow. II: Application

Abstract

The formulation of the companion paper describing the evolution of mean elevation in a radially symmetric alluvial fan is applied to the specific case of the tailings basin of an iron mine. The tailings basin provides a simple field-scale example of a fluvial fan-delta system. Calculation procedures are developed to determine the effect of changing water and sediment discharge on fan evolution. The analysis is used to evaluate options for the extension of the lifetime of the tailings basin.