Vol 34 Iss. 2

This article is a summary of the results of oil prospecting hydrogeological studies conducted by the author in 1952-1954 within the Chelyabinsk brown coal region between 61-62° E and 54°20'-55°3(U N latitude. In addition to the data of our own research, we used the fund materials of the Chelyabuglrazvedka trust, including the works of V. N. Kulakova, A. P. Sirman, P. A. Kiselev, and others. Some data on the hydrochemistry of the Chelyabinsk region are given in the work of M. S. Gurevich (VSEGEI, 1953).

Geological studies carried out in the postwar years in the Kustanai steppe revealed huge natural riches: the largest deposits in the USSR of iron, coal, bauxite and other minerals. On the basis of these deposits the largest industrial enterprises, for example, Sarbaisko-Sokolovsky enrichment plant, Kushmurun coal mine, Turgai bauxite mine, etc., are already being created at present.

In this paper, on the basis of hydrogeological studies carried out in 1951‑1955 on the territory of the Yakut basin, a brief characterization of the chemical composition of groundwater from the point of view of its suitability for water supply to settlements located in the basin. The paper uses materials of hydrogeological studies carried out by the author in 1951‑1953, and some analyses on the chemistry of the waters of the Yakut artesian basin, collected in 1954‑1955 by hydrogeologist E. A. Baskov.

The city of Yakutsk is located in the central part of the complex Yakut artesian basin, within the flat Prilenskaya lowland, which slopes gently to the north. Absolute elevations in the Yakutsk area are 100‑120 meters. The climate of the region is sharply continental; the average annual temperature is minus 10°C. The thickness of permafrost in Yakutsk reaches 200 meters.

Drainless basins are widespread in the zones of steppes, semi‑deserts and deserts over a vast area, from Transbaikalia in the east to the Black Sea in the west. Sometimes they reach considerable sizes and great depth. The morphology, geological structure, and origin of the basins are very diverse, but all of them are united by one common feature — the absence of outflow. The recharge conditions of lakes located at the bottom of many basins are also diverse. The main sources of recharge for these lakes include: 1) surface runoff, including river waters; 2) large water bodies; 3) groundwater; 4) artesian waters.

Among the mineral waters of Transbaikalia, which are diverse in composition, the soda waters of Baley are of particular interest. In hydrogeological terms, the area of Baley can be considered as an intermountain artesian basin composed of Mesozoic and Jurassic sediments, framed by crystalline rocks, stretched almost latitudinally and aligned with the broad tectonic valley of the Unda River. On the northern flank of the basin, within the southern slopes of the Borshchovochny Ridge, the South Borshchovochny hydromineral line can be traced, characterized by outcrops of cold carbon dioxide springs and dry gas jets. These include, for example, the Shurugunsky springs, the spring in the Semenovaya ravine, the Lozhnikovsky, Zhidkinsky, and others. All these springs have a water composition close to that of the Darasun mineral springs. With low mineralization, the predominant components in the water are bicarbonates of magnesium and calcium. This so‑called Darasun type of carbonated mineral waters is extremely widespread in the Daurian hydromineral region.

N. A. Golovkinsky is known as a major scientist in the field of geology. The study of the relevant materials shows that he did a lot on the issues of hydrogeology of Crimea, the tasks of watering this region. The water problem has always been important for the population of Crimea. The remains of ancient hydraulic structures found in Crimea (fountains, cisterns, wells, water supply lines, etc.) testify to the continuous struggle of the population to improve water supply and irrigation of cities and villages. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia (the second half of the 18th century), the issues of water management were given special attention, as the development of the region depended on it.

Absorption of washing fluid is a clear sign of water permeability of rocks passed by boreholes. It is especially important to take into account the absorption of flushing fluid by fractured and karsted rocks, where the absorption of even clay solutions is often significant and can be used for preliminary judgment of the water permeability of these rocks (before the production of experimental hydrogeological work).

Calculations of filtration coefficient and radius of influence from the data of experimental cluster pumping are usually made by the Dupuit formula. The calculation is performed separately for each pair of observation wells; then the average of the obtained results is determined, or the most acceptable value of the filtration coefficient and radius of influence is accepted. Discrepancies between the values obtained by parallel calculations for different pairs of observation wells depend on: 1) the degree of homogeneity of the water‑bearing rocks; 2) the quality of the experimental work carried out; 3) deviations of the direction of groundwater movement during pumping from a strictly radial flow. Often, especially in fractured rocks, these discrepancies are significant, and the average of the individual obtained values of the water permeability coefficient or radius of influence may differ significantly from the true value.

Drilled wells are widely used for pumping water from water-bearing rocks in urban, industrial, transportation and agricultural water supply, drainage of mines and quarries, water control during construction of large hydraulic structures, etc. Under appropriate hydrogeological conditions, such wells are often equipped with high-performance pumps, as a result of which a significant cone of depression is formed around the well in the aquifer. Filtration rates and hydraulic gradients near the water-receiving part of the well, especially with a confined aquifer, may exceed the values obeying the linear law of filtration. Then in the zone nearest to the well there is most often a turbulent type of movement, characterized, as is known, by a quadratic relationship between the velocity of groundwater and the hydraulic gradient. It occurs more often in fractured rocks, but can also occur in coarse clastic and granular material.

Some methods of calculating filtration from channels. In the design of trapezoidal-shaped channels, establishing the magnitude of water loss to filtration is essential. For unlined canals, to which the overwhelming majority of permanent and temporary irrigation canals belong, the question of loss values is usually related to determination of design flow rate under different operation modes. For canals intended for other purposes, which are in the stage of temporary operation before lining, the values of filtration losses play a well-known role in various calculations of hydraulic engineering works. Finally, in artificial colmatage (sealing) of slopes and bottoms of unlined canals, the value of filtration loss is also used in relevant calculations.

A brief review of existing methods of calculating the coefficient of filtration (k). Of the existing and currently recognized methods of determining k by infiltration from pits, the method of A. K. Boldyrev is the most widely used, but obviously inaccurate, and only the methods of N. S. Nesterov and N. Y. Denisov combine the simplicity of calculation and sufficient accuracy. Their methods, in fact, only take into account, but do not take into account the complexity of the infiltration process. The whole process is as if excluded from the experience by the very construction of the method. In other words, the experience is conducted in a form that allows the calculations to consider only a part of the “water body” with the simplest water movement (N. S. Nesterov) or to solve a system of equations, in each of which the complexity of the movement is fixed by a simple coefficient (N. Y. Denisov). But these methods require either special equipment (N. S. Nesterov) or are too cumbersome to perform (by N. Y. Denisov). However, even N. S. Nesterov's method is not accurate enough, because in the central part of the “water body” he singled out, water particles move not only vertically, but also sideways.

Purpose and characteristics of the device. Self-recorder for groundwater level monitoring - limnigraph - is designed for automatic measurement and recording of water level changes in boreholes with diameter from 75 to 150 mm (Fig. 1 and 2). The limnigraph consists of (Fig. 3): body, winch, recording mechanism, steel rope, float, counterweight.

Distribution, stratigraphy and conditions of occurrence. Cambrian age deposits on the Russian platform are ubiquitous along the southern subsurface slope of the Baltic Shield. They occur in natural outcrops or mainly under the cover of Quaternary sediments, in the area of the pre-klint zone along the coast of the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, in the Neva Depression near Leningrad.

One of the most important issues related to engineering-geological study of clayey rocks is their classification. Classification of rocks, including clayey rocks, should determine the methodology of their study, facilitate the assessment of their properties and, accordingly, the stability of structures erected on them or engineering reclamation measures.

Creeping deformation of soil skeleton includes its slow deformation at constant stress state. This type of soil skeleton deformation is neglected in the conventional calculation of the settlement of a structure. However, as experimental studies show, these deformations are essential in the process of soil compaction and especially in the calculation of the change in the settlement of the soil layer in time. When the soil is compacted under the action of load without the possibility of its lateral expansion, creeping deformation of the skeleton is caused by displacement of some elements of the soil skeleton relative to others and their introduction into the pore volume of the soil.

The widespread socialist construction both within the Soviet Union and in the people's democracies in a number of cases is associated with the use of loess rocks as a base for various kinds of structures. The main engineering‑geological feature of these rocks, causing complications during construction and operation, is their ability to show under additional wetting uneven, mainly rapid compaction – subsidence. The latter, as is known, occurs under the influence of both the pressure of the structure and the weight of overlying wet rocks, but more often from both causes. The proposal of some authors to call the phenomenon of uneven compaction upon wetting “additional settlement”, if it is caused by external load, and to distinguish it from subsidence, caused ostensibly only by the weight of wet rocks, has no sufficient basis. Both phenomena have the same nature – compaction under additional wetting and the action of pressure. Obviously, without pressure from the latter, regardless of its nature, compaction will not occur. In addition, in the practice of civil and geotechnical engineers, the concept of “additional subsidence” has entered as a term denoting the appearance of new deformations in the rock after stabilization under certain conditions. The concept of “subsidence” quite clearly characterizes a phenomenon inherent in loess rocks.

Introduction. In 1954 and 1955 in the Laboratory of Engineering Geology of the Department of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology of the Leningrad Mining Institute the physical and mechanical properties of ancient alluvial clayey rocks were studied in order to recommend them as a construction material for the construction of an earthen dam on the Emba River in the area of the Aral-Tyube tract. The work was carried out under the assignment of the Leningrad State Institute for Design, Water and Land Reclamation Construction. In the process of laboratory studies, the following were carried out: a) study of the material composition, properties and condition of clayey rocks; b) determination of changes in the properties of these rocks in connection with the violation of natural composition and long-term immersion in water; c) clarification of the nature of their compactibility.