Spatiotemporal subsidence over Pabdana coal mine Kerman Province, central Iran using time-series of Sentinel-1 remote sensing imagery

Abstract

Environmental monitoring of mining regions using satellite imagery is crucial for sustainable exploitation and preventing geohazards. Movements due to the failure of the roof in underground coal mining, by migrating upwards and outwards from the seam being mined, could eventually appear as ground deformation. To investigate the matter further, the surface deformation that occurred over the Pabdana mining area was monitored in three time periods, between October 2, 2014, and July 27, 2019. Persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) was used based on 150 ascending and descending Sentinel-1A images. The maximum mining subsidence rate during the studied periods was about 30 to 35 mm/yr. The PSI analysis shows that the subsidence rate varied both temporally and spatially during the three studied periods. The time series and the displacement rate for various cross-sections highlight a clear quantitative relationship between coal extraction progress and subsidence, which proceeded southward throughout the three study periods. So, considering coal mining subsidence as a geohazard, land developments and structures over the mining area may be safeguarded. The approach used in this investigation can be implemented in other similar coal mining zones.

Geochemical investigation and modes of occurrence of critical elements and minerals in the coal of Akkakhel, Akhorwal, and Sheikhan, KP, Pakistan

“…The organic phase is composed of fixed carbon and volatiles while the inorganic phase contains sulfides, carbonates, and clay minerals (Cheng et al, 2014;Zhou et al, 2014;Sahoo et al, 2017). Majority of the critical elements and minerals are associated with organic matter, while a rare amount of minerals occurred during the inorganic phase (Li et al, 2011;Mehrabi et al, 2022). It has been found that sulfide minerals such as pyrite and marcasite are abundantly present in coals, which generally cause corrosion of boiler tubes, heat resistance, and cause pollution by the emission of sulfur dioxide during combustion (Dai et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2014;Xia et al, 2015).…”

Study of a high-precision complex 3D geological modelling method based on a fine KNN and kriging coupling algorithm: a case study for Jiangsu, China

“…Because there are many complex geological structures such as karst and geological pinchout in geology (Nanehkaran et al, 2023). Complex geological visualization is very important in the study of geological disasters (Mehrabi et al, 2023). Therefore, it is an important task to study the construction of complex geological models.…”