Coal mining subsidence data extraction and verification in a high groundwater area based on Landsat-8 imagery and subsidence prediction

Coal is the main energy resource in China, with its extraction and utilization playing an important role in national economic development. However, coal mining may be causative with respect to critical land subsidence and damage to land. The eastern plain coal mining region of China represents an example of overlapping crop cultivation and coal extraction, and is considered a coal mining area characterized by a high water table. Accordingly, declining ground elevation and seasonal water logging of land due to mining subsidence have become major concerns within the region. Based upon the existing procedure for land reclamation planning, both land damage boundaries and land damage magnitude were determined for the region via subsidence prediction and vertical displacement, respectively. In the current study, a coal mine in Shandong province was employed as a case study area with the following work phases implemented: 1) subsidence prediction was implemented, with land damage magnitude demarcated via the proposed standard; 2) mining induced water area and wetland was extracted via use of remote sensing; 3) comparative analyses of the aforementioned methodologies were undertaken, with a revised methodology proposed for effective provision of improved land damage demarcation. Results indicate that land subsidence at Dongtan coal mines during May 2013 was 1616.70 hm2, of which categorically mild, moderate, and severe lands were 22.54 hm2, 257.67 hm2, and 436.49 hm2, respectively.EI011771-7751