A Study of Land Subsidence by Radar Remote Sensing at Datong Jurassic & Carboniferous Period Coalfield

At Datong coalfield, the heavy mining activities in its jurassic & carboniferous coal seams has caused very serious adverse effects to the local geological environment, such as soil avalanche, landslide, mud-rock flow, surface settlement, surface crack, surface gangue stack, surface deformations and subsidence. Moreover, as coal mining causes groundwater leakage, excessive groundwater exploitation has greatly intensified surface settlement in Datong City. The paper uses 8 cognominal ERS-1/2 SAR data frames obtained during 1992 to 2003 period, obtained 84 deformation fields. Of the 84 sites for preliminary interference, 44 sites belong to mining subsidence, 23 urban subsidences and 17 landslides. The total coverage area of deformation amounts to 1824.4 km², which is almost equivalent to the total area of the Datong coalfield.