Applying Karst Hydrology Concepts to Anthropogenic Subsurface Systems and Mine Water Management

ABSTRACT Mine water management is a permanent challenge in post‐mining areas where drainage adits play a crucial role for the regulation of water levels within partially flooded underground mines. To improve the understanding of the hydrological processes occurring in such environments, this study applies karst hydrology concepts to anthropogenic subsurface systems and mine water management. Specifically, it investigates the effects of seasonal variations and anthropogenic influences associated with remediation measures on the hydraulic behaviour of anthropogenic subsurface drainage systems. For this purpose, the hydrological storage‐discharge relations at the system‐scale in the Rothschönberger Stolln drainage adit of the former Freiberg mining district (Saxony, Germany) are evaluated using lumped parameter models. The four models applied successfully reproduce the discharge dynamics of the Rothschönberger Stolln for both undisturbed and anthropogenically disturbed hydrological conditions in the period between 2015 and 2025. The models further demonstrate that a lumped parameter approach, typically used in karst hydrology, can serve as a computationally efficient tool for analysing hydrological processes in anthropogenic structures and technical interventions in the subsurface.