Abstract: At present, the saturation line of a tailings pond is mostly solved by the method of numerical simulation or model experiment, and there are few analytical solutions reported in the literature. In view of this, a simplified calculation model of the saturation line of a tailings pond is established in this paper. Particularly, the differential equations of the saturation line are derived by using the energy equation and Darcy's law of permeability, and the upstream and downstream boundary condition equations are established. On this basis, the analytical solution to the saturation line of tailings pond is achieved (Note: due to the Dobby's assumption in the derivation of the solution, the analytical solution is mostly suitable for the tailings pond with slight slope). By comparing with the numerical simulation results, the analytical solution is verified. Considering the complexity of a tailings pond, the influence facts on the distribution of the saturation line of a tailings pond are analyzed, such as the tailing sand anisotropy, tailing sand stratification and bottom slope topography. The applicability of the analytical solution to complex tailings pond is discussed. Finally, the validity of the analytical solution in the paper is verified by the tailings pond example.

Key words: saturation line, seepage field, tailings pond, analytical solution, numerical simulation