Impact of blasting on karst relief of a nature reserve in the Arkhangelsk Region

The article describes the field studies into impact exerted by mining on the unique karst formation of the Chuga nature reserve, in particular, on the Aprelsky Uzel cave. There are two scenarios of seismic effect: routine activities (rock crushing on a screening-and-crushing machine, secondary grinding of oversize rocks by a mounted hydraulic hammer, drilling operations, rock loading) and softening of rock mass by blasting. For determining intensity of seismic vibrations, five seismometers were set in the line from a blasting point to the Aprelsky Uzel cave. The studies lasted for 45 calendar days. It is found that the current mining activities have no impact on the rock mass integrity in the Chuga nature reserve. No overcharges of standards from the regulatory framework of Russia are revealed. On the other hand, some blasting-induced excess is observed in case of comparison with Germany’s national standard DIN 4150-3:1999 for the structures of high social value (for instance, guarded monuments of architecture) at a distance up to 680 m. The result of the studies was an empirical dependence of wave velocities on explosive weights. The dependence made it possible to find the maximal weights of explosives for the mass blasting without impact on the karst rock mass of the nature reserve.

Nakhod V. A., Malov A. I., Danilov K. B., Gorelik G. D. Impact of blasting on karst relief of a nature reserve in the Arkhangelsk Region. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(7):38-54. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_7_0_38.

The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the state contract with the N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Ural Branch RAS, Projects UUW-2025-0011 No. 10220404006588-1.5.6;1.5.8;1.5.13.

V.A. Nakhod¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: nakhod.vitaliy@knauf.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0002-5358-409X,
A.I. Malov¹, Dr. Sci. (Geol. Mineral.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: malovai@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0585-8893,
K.B. Danilov¹, Cand. Sci. (Phys. Mathem.), Senior Researcher, e-mail: danilov_kostea@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1248-5095,
G.D. Gorelik, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Empress Catherine II Saint-Petersburg Mining University, 199106, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: gorelik_gd@pers.spmi.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9890-5275,
¹ N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 163020, Arkhangelsk, Russia.

V.A. Nakhod, e-mail: Nakhod.vitaliy@knauf.ru.

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