{"id":35921,"date":"2020-12-26T12:56:43","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T12:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/?p=35921"},"modified":"2020-12-30T16:20:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T16:20:54","slug":"the-carmen-copper-mine-landslide-in-the-philippines-the-slope-evolution-before-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2020\/12\/26\/the-carmen-copper-mine-landslide-in-the-philippines-the-slope-evolution-before-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carmen Copper Mine landslide in the Philippines – the slope evolution before failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carmen Copper Mine landslide in the Philippines – the slope evolution before failure<\/h4>\n

It is now clear that the ongoing post-landslide operation at the site of the Carmen Copper Mine landslide in the Philippines<\/a> has transitioned from a rescue to a recovery operation.  The loss of the workers feels both tragic and unnecessary; questions need to be asked as to how such a tragedy can occur in a large, apparently well-managed mine.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I have been looking at the archive of Planet Labs<\/a> images of the site.  This is not an easy place in which to obtain satellite imagery due to the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, but I have found two good PlanetScope images that are quite revealing.<\/p>\n

This image of the site of the Carmen Copper Mine landslide was collected on 14 October 2020:-<\/p>\n

\"Carmen

A Planet Labs<\/a> PlanetScope image of the site of the Carmen Copper Mine in the Philippines, collected on 14 October 2020. Image copyright Planet Labs<\/a>, used with permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

Whilst this image of the site of the Carmen Copper Mine landslide was collected on 17 December 2020, a few days before the failure:<\/p>\n

\"Carmen

A Planet Labs<\/a> PlanetScope image of the site of the Carmen Copper Mine landslide in the Philippines, collected on 17 December 2020. Image copyright Planet Labs<\/a>, used with permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

The slope that failed last week is at the north end of the mine.  I have created a slider that will allow a comparison of the two images<\/a>, although I am not able to embed this in WordPress.<\/p>\n

The image from October shows a slope that retained the mining benches in at least a part, and at this resolution (about 3 m per pixel) there are few obvious signs of instability.  However, by December the slope had evolved dramatically.  The benches had disappeared, there are signs of a scarp forming on the west side of the slope, there is a large amount of scree in the botton part of the slope and the upper portion appears to be deformed.<\/p>\n

Thus, on the face of it I would suggest that the slope had deformed considerably, which makes the tragedy even harder to understand.<\/p>\n

I would very much like to see some InSAR data for the site of the Carmen Copper Mine landslide over the last six months.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Reference and acknowledgement<\/h4>\n

Planet Team (2020). Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https:\/\/www.planet.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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