Stabilisation of bank slopes that are prone to liquefaction in ecologically sensitive areas

A consequence of lignite stripping in the Lusatia mining district (East Germany) is the backfilling of dumps that mainly consist of low-compacted fine and medium-grained sands. When the ground-water table, which had been lowered while stripping the coal, is rising again, these dumps might be affected by a settlement flow due to the liquefaction of soils. Common methods for stabilisation as, for instance, blasting or vibrator-jetting deep compaction, are not very useful in ecologically sensitive areas, where dumps have been afforested and embankment areas of residual lakes have developed into highly valuable biotopes. A new so-called air-impulse method in combination with directional horizontal drilling has been developed, which does not have a considerably negative impact on the vegetation during compaction. The experience gained during the first employment of this method at the lake “Katja”, a residual lake of lignite stripping, is presented in this paper.