The devastating failure of a tailings dam in Kolontar, Hungary made headlines for the incredible environmental disaster created by the bauxite tails. In a presentation by an investigator that was located by Dr. Dave, the results of the investigation are in. The bottom line? The dam was constructed of fly ash without a liner and with little consideration given to the foundation. The seepage observed in advance of the failure indicated that excess pore water pressure was a key factor in the disaster. Dr. Dave has a link to the presentation. [Source: The Landslide Blog. Image: Greenpeace via The Landslide Blog]
1/11/2011
Dear Citizens,
Really is this all the information available after this 10/07/2010 dam failure?
After hundreds of homes had been damaged and the citizens incomes severely stressed the media outlet can only report, this portion of the information? Was this due to National Police Chief József Hatala taking over the probe?
“At least four people were killed and three are missing after the unstoppable torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads, burned people through their clothes and emptied 35 million cubic feet of toxic waste onto several nearby towns,” reported by USAToday/Gannett Corporation.
Is your media group owned by Hearst/MediaNews Group too?
I see this action all the time in Los Angeles, and in Torrance, California.
It is sad to only get a glimpse of the problem and how the problem was resolved since the Dam Burst last year.
It sounds like a British Petroleum Operation [referencing the downplaying of information after the Gulf Disaster].
Sincerely,
Don Karg
Hey Don,
Did you try following the links back to the Landslide Blog? He has a PDF version of a presentation on the causes/failure mechanisms.
-Rockman