• journal_title：The Leading Edge
• Contributor：Erik Westman ; K. Luxbacher ; S. Schafrik
• Publisher：Society of Exploration Geophysicists
• Date：2012-
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.1190/1.3694902
• journal_abbrev：The Leading Edge
• issn：1070-485X
• volume：31
• issue：3
• firstpage：338
• section：Special section: Mining geophysics

Progression of an immature block cave in proximity to a mature sublevel cave was monitored over an 18-month period using double-difference tomography. This method utilizes existing microseismic data to generate time-lapse images of seismic wave velocity changes within the rock mass. The velocity changes are caused by damage zones forming or local high-stress concentrations. In this study, images were generated on monthly intervals. An average of 2000 microseismic events recorded by 25 stations were used to generate each image. Results showed a development of the initial undercut followed by the growing cave and interaction with the adjacent sublevel cave. The goal of the research is to provide a tool that can augment both numerical modeling results and underground geotechnical measurements to allow the mine operator to produce in the safest and most efficient manner possible.