Land Subsidence Related to Coal Mining in China Revealed by L-Band InSAR Analysis

Geological disasters, including ground deformation, fractures and collapse, are serious problems in coal mining regions, which have threatened the sustainable development for local industry. The Ordos Basin is most known for its abundant coal resources. Over-mining the underground coal resources had induced land deformation. Detecting the evolution of the land deformation features and identifying the potential risk are important for decision-makers to prevent geological disasters. We analyzed land subsidence induced by coal mining in a 200 km2 area in the Ordos Basin for the time period 2006-2015. ALOS-1 PALSAR images from December 2006 to January 2011 and ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 images from December 2014 to July 2015, optical remotely sensed images and coal mining information were collected. The small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR) method and differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) method, GIS and statistical analysis were adopted. Results show that the maximum subsidence rate and cumulative subsidence along the line of sight (LOS) were -65 mm/year and -246 mm, respectively, from December 2006 to January 2011. The maximum cumulative subsidence was -226 mm from December 2014 to July 2015. The new boundary of the mining goafs from 2014 to 2015 and the most dangerous risk region were mapped. Moreover, the effect of large-scale mining coal, with the production volume exceeds 1.2 million tons per year, with the operation time more than 20 years on land subsidence was found greater than small and medium-scale coal mines and reached -59 mm/year. The recently established small-sized and medium-sized coal mines show high land subsidence. This study will contribute to better understand the land subsidence process in mining region and provide scientific support for government to prevent land subsidence.