Use of Multiplatform SAR Imagery in Mining Deformation Monitoring with Dense Vegetation Coverage: A Case Study in the Fengfeng Mining Area, China

Ground deformation related to mining activities may occur immediately or many years later, leading to a series of mine geological disasters, such as ground fissures, collapses, and even mining earthquakes. Deformation monitoring has been carried out with techniques, such as multitemporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MTInSAR). Over the past decade, MTInSAR has been widely used in monitoring mining deformation, and it is still difficult to retrieve mining deformation over dense vegetation areas. In this study, we use multiple-platform SAR images to retrieve mining deformation over dense vegetation areas. The high-quality interferograms are selected by the coherence map, and the mining deformation is retrieved by the MSBAS-InSAR technique. SAR images from TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1A, Radarsat-2, and PALSAR-2 over the Fengfeng mining area, Heibei, China, are used to retrieve the deformation of mining activities covered with dense vegetation. The results show that the subsidence in the Fengfeng mining area reaches up to 90 cm over the period from July 2015 to April 2016. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the results from InSAR and leveling is 83.5 mm/yr at two mining sites, i.e., Wannian and Jiulong Mines.

Automated summary

Ground deformation related to mining activities can lead to disasters such as ground fissures, collapses, and earthquakes. This study utilizes multiple-platform SAR images to monitor mining deformation over dense vegetation areas, revealing significant subsidence in the Fengfeng mining area. Results show that the root-mean-square error between InSAR and leveling measurements is 83.5 mm/year at two mining sites.