Environmental Investigation and Evaluation of Land Subsidence in the Datong Coalfield Based on InSAR Technology

AbstractHeavy mining of Jurassic and Carboniferous horizontal coal seams in the Datong coalfield has seriously affected the local geological environment, which is mainly manifested by such geohazards as soil avalanches, landslides, mudflows, surface subsidence, surface cracks, surface solid waste accumulation and surface deformation. More seriously, coal mining causes groundwater to leak. Overpumping of groundwater has resulted in substantial land subsidence of the urban area in Datong City. Based on the previous geo‐environmental investigation in the work area, the authors used radar remote sensing techniques such as InSAR (synthetic aperture radar interferometry) and D‐InSAR (differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry), supplemented by the optical remote sensing method, for geo‐environmental investigation to ascertain the geo‐environmental background of the Datong Jurassic and Carboniferous‐Permian coalfield and evaluate the effects of the geohazards, thus providing a basis for the geo‐environmental protection, geohazard control and prevention, land improvement and optimization of the human environment. In this study 8 cog‐nominal ERS‐1/2 SAR data frames during 1992 to 2003 were used, but the following processing was made: (1) the multi‐temporal SAR magnitude images were used to interpret the geological structure, vegetation, microgeomorphology and drainage system; (2) the multi‐temporal InSAR coherent images were used to make a classification of surface features and evaluate the coherence change due to coal mining; and (3) the multi‐temporal cog‐nominal SAR images were used to complete D‐InSAR processing to remove the information of differential deformation areas (sites). In the end, a ten‐year time series of differential interferograms were obtained using the multi‐temporal cog‐nominal SAR images. In the tests, 84 deformed areas (sites) were obtained, belonging to those in 1993–1996, 1996–1997, 1997–1998, 1998–2001, 1998–2002 and 2001–2003 respectively. Of the 84 areas, 44 are mining subsidence ones, 23 urban subsidence ones and 17 landslide subsidence ones. They cover a total area of 1824.4 km2, equivalent to the area of the whole Datong coalfield. Then an accurate evaluation was made on the geo‐environment of the Datong coalfield. The tests show that InSAR is now the only feasible technical means for making one all‐weather, real‐time measurement of a coal mining land subsidence area covering up to 10,000 km2 to subcentimeter resolution. This study is a successful application of InSAR in the investigation and evaluation of land subsidence, especially in coal mining areas.