Application of DEM overlaying technique in surface subsidence identification─a case study in Ruqigou coal mining area of Ningxia,China

Subsidence occurred in many parts of the world. particularly in densely populated deltaic regions, causing extremely expensive damage. It can be resulted from natural causes. man-made induced causes, or other mixed causes. For identifying surface subsidence, many techniques have been employed, for example, geodetic monitoring, airborne laser subsidence measurement system,differential S.A.R., interferometry DGPS, and satellite radar measurements. However. all these methods require large time span and a large amount of field work. With the development of GIS techniques, identification of surface subsidence is becoming a relative easy problem. Ruqigou coal mining area was selected as a case study to identify the surface subsidence with DEM (digital elevation model) overlaying techniques. The result shows that DEM overlaying technique is a very useful method on surface subsidence identification. The accuracy of the results are largely dependent on the precision of the data-input.