Monitoring deformations in mining areas with UAV data

Detection and monitoring of deformations that may occur in open pit mine sites are important for both the safety and continuity of mine production. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is the most preferred method for deformation monitoring in landfills. While the amount of deformation (3D displacements) can be determined at the points monitored by the GNSS method, comments on the cause of the deformation and/or the field size may be limited. The main factors or triggering causes of shifts in open pit mining areas are seen as the base topography, the geometric dimensions of the formed steps (width, height and slope), the stiffness ratio of the poured material and the load increases caused by new castings on the lower steps. Field measurements and evaluations for this mine site support that the UAV photogrammetry assisted GNSS method is a fast and economical method for determining deformations in both boundaries and areal dimensions. In this study, UAV photogrammetry and GNSS were used together, a marble quarry was selected as the open quarry and the deformations in the field were monitored. In order to monitor the displacements on a point basis with the GNSS method, deformation control points were established according to the terrain topography and possible locations where deformation could occur. The causes of the displacement movement over the deformation points determined by UAV photogrammetry, and their area and volumetric magnitudes were investigated. In this way, the measurements obtained with GNSS with precision and high accuracy were accepted as the reference measurements of the study and comparisons were made with the UAV data. It was seen that the UAV data gave results in parallel with the displacement amounts obtained from the GNSS data. This shows the usability of UAV data, as well as point-based deformation studies with the GNSS method, as well as monitoring on an area basis with UAV Photogrammetry and providing remarkable results in parallel with GNSS data.