Mining footprint of the underground longwall caving extraction method: A case study of a typical industrial coal area in China

Longwall caving mining (LCM) can lead to many environmental problems that have drawn worldwide attention. A previous survey found that most scholars tend to analyze the two issues separately, that is, coal mining-induced subsidence and heavy metal pollution sources in the soil of the mining regions. Based on field monitoring as well as the collection and analysis of soil samples, a previous study estimated ground settlement and analyzed the surface subsidence law and spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals in soils. Moreover, a geographic information system was combined with multivariate statistical analysis methods to analyze the heavy metal pollution sources in soils. At the same time, the mechanism of heavy metal accumulation in the subsidence area was analyzed. The study found that the most active subsidence of settlement was 137.5 m behind the workface and moved forward with the workface. LCM has already caused significant disturbance to the soils in the Hengyuan Mine. Moreover, the distribution pattern of eight heavy metals was consistent with the surface subsidence law. The sources of heavy metal pollution in the soils were also identified; namely, coal mining-induced subsidence (64.1%) and mixed transportation and wind-mediated spread (35.9%), offering a reinterpretation of the LCM's footprint.