Abandonment plans provide a wealth of information essential to realistically assess the hydrogeological characteristics of areas subjected to extensive mining operations. Many plans detail the location and geometry of the faults encountered within the workings, and provide a subsurface map describing mine driveroad, shaft and adit positions. Notes of difficulties encountered within the workings are often included, detailing areas of water ingress and rock instability, which is of great assistance in the investigative process. The collation and assessment of these details permits the compilation of subsurface connectivity maps, which can form the basis for both conceptual and computational modelling studies. The complexity of this form of groundwater system necessitates the formation of an accurate conceptual model, which draws together hydrological, geological and geochemical data in a realistic manner. The combination of relationships corresponding to each aspect of such a study, permits a conceptual model to be developed representative of the processes, and their boundaries, which control groundwater flow behaviour at a site. The conceptual modelling phase of a hydrogeological investigation is an essential prerequisite to numerical modelling studies, and should not in any circumstances be omitted.
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