Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Improving mine reclamation efficiency for farmland sustainable use:

Insights from optimizing mining scheme
Zhanjie Feng a, Zhenqi Hu a, c, *, Gensheng Li b, Yuhang Zhang b, Xi Zhang a, Hao Zhang a
a
School of Environment Science & Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining & Technology, 221116, Xuzhou, China
b
School of Public Policy & Management, China University of Mining & Technology, 221116, Xuzhou, China
c
Institute of Land Reclamation & Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), 100083, Beijing, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Maria Teresa Moreira Underground coal mining inevitably causes ground subsidence, especially in the coal-grain composite area with a
high groundwater table (HGT) in eastern China, where mining subsidence causes waterlogging of arable land and
Keywords: threatens regional food security. Concurrent Mining and Reclamation (CMR) of underground coal mines em­
Mining subsidence phasizes the implementation of reclamation measures in the subsidence process, so it is necessary to simulate and
Mine land reclamation
analyze dynamic subsidence to optimize reclamation planning. In this paper, the Guqiao coal mine, one of the
Sustainable land use
HGT coal mining areas in eastern China, is used as a research area. First, the New Water Index (NWI) method and
Remote sensing
Numerical simulation Otsu image segmentation algorithm were adopted to quantitatively analyze the spatial distribution and expan­
sion of surface ponding caused by underground coal mining from 2008 to 2020 based on Landsat remote sensing
images. Second, Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in three Dimensions (FLAC3D) was used to invert the law
of surface subsidence and the evolution characteristics of surface water caused by different mining schemes.
Finally, each simulated mining scheme’s reclamation timing, earthwork allocation, and reclamation rate were
compared. The results show that: (1) the waterlogging area increases yearly with coal mining, reaching 1049
hm2 in 2020; (2) compared with the traditional reclamation (TR) rate of 32%, the reclamation rate of CMR could
be increased to 65%; (3) the best mining scheme for CMR was up-warding skip mining with a reclamation
duration of three years in this case. Optimization of mining schemes could control the temporal and spatial
distribution of surface subsidence and determine the land reclamation plan. Meanwhile, the land use planning
feedback could guide the mining scheme’s design and realize sustainable land use during the mining life cycle in
other similar areas.

1. Introduction et al., 2021; Tichavský et al., 2020) in places such as Illinois in the
United States (Darmody et al., 2014), Queensland in Australia (Morrison
According to the BP World Energy Statistical Yearbook, coal con­ et al., 2019), Southeastern coalfields of Indian (Kumar Vishwakarma
sumption accounts for 27.2% of global primary energy consumption in et al., 2018), Poland (Bell et al., 2000), Nappe zone in northern Tunisia
2020. As the world’s largest coal producer and consumer, even under (Ayari et al., 2022) and China (Han et al., 2022). The area of abandoned
the deliberate regulation of the Chinese government’s "carbon peak" and land in mining areas in China has reached 1.436 × 106 hm2 since 2005
"carbon neutralization" policies (Xie et al., 2022), coal production in (Sanmiquel et al., 2018) and is growing at a rate of 0.2–0.33 hm2 of
2020 still be 3.9 billion tons, and coal consumption accounts for 56.8% subsidence land for every 10,000 t of coal mined out (Xiao et al., 2014b).
of the energy consumption. Therefore, coal will still be the "ballast Especially, mining subsidence and ponding (He et al., 2020; Zhao et al.,
stone" and "stabilizer" of China’s national energy security and con­ 2020) is the most representative and unique environmental problems in
sumption demand (Jie et al., 2021). High-intensity underground long­ the coal-grain composite area with high groundwater table (HGT),
wall mining activities (Guo et al., 2019) have brought a series of adverse including Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shandong, and Jiangsu (He et al.,
effects on land (Feng et al., 2019) and the ecological environment (Ayari 2021).

* Corresponding author.. China University of Mining & Technology, Daxue Road 1#, Xuzhou, 221116, China.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Z. Feng), [email protected] (Z. Hu), [email protected] (G. Li), [email protected] (Y. Zhang),
[email protected] (X. Zhang), [email protected] (H. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134615
Received 18 May 2022; Received in revised form 13 September 2022; Accepted 6 October 2022
Available online 11 October 2022
0959-6526/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

As an effective measure to alleviate the conflict between coal mining reclamation efficiency under different mining schemes via scenario
and land resources protection in HGT mining areas, CMR advocates the simulation.
principle of "treatment and restoration while mining," timely renovation
of the land occupied by the mine, and reclaiming the damaged land to 2. Materials and methods
restore the geological environment of the mine (Hu et al., 2020). This
concept and technology have been gradually recognized by all sectors of 2.1. Study area
society and written into many national, local, and industrial relevant
regulations (Chugh, 2018). Guqiao coal mine (116◦ 32′ 06′′ –116◦ 38′ 53′′ E, 32◦ 43′ 46′′ –32◦ 51′
However, there are still some limitations in the further research of 50 N) is located in Huainan City, northern Anhui Province, China
′′

CMR in HGT mining areas. In most previous studies of CMR, attention (Fig. 1). It is a representative coal and grain composite region with HGT.
has been given to single coal seam mining subsidence and corresponding The primary coal-bearing sequences in Huainan are Permian-
reclamation timing, scope, and elevation design (Hu et al., 2016a). In Carboniferous overlaid by Cenozoic sedimentary strata with a thick­
the case of decreasing domestic mineral reserves and gradual depletion ness of 200–500 m. The thick Cenozoic loose deposits comprise sandy
of easily mined minerals, mines have turned to mine deeper resources conglomerate, fine-to-moderate-sized sandstone, clay, and sandy clay.
and have formed a pattern of multiple-seam repeated mining (MSRM) The main soil types are tidal soil and sand ginger soil. The coalfield has a
(Ranjith et al., 2017). Compared with the subsidence of a single coal humid/semi-humid continental monsoon climate. The average annual
seam, the disturbance produced by repeated mining affects the rock temperature is about 15 ◦ C, the average annual sunshine hours is
strata that have been stable in the initial mining once again (Huang 1963.54 h, the average annual evaporation is 1181.3 mm, and the
et al., 2021), resulting in new movement and deformation of the surface average annual precipitation is 962.12 mm, concentrated from May to
(Yang et al., 2019). In this case, surface movement and deformation law September. Because of its favorable climate, Huainan is one of China’s
become more complex, and the degree of surface subsidence is more essential grain production areas (Dong et al., 2015). Long-term intensive
prominent, so the corresponding reclamation management is more underground mining activities have seriously broken the balance of the
complicated. Furthermore, the land subsidence caused by MSRM is a local ecosystem, resulting in subsidence ponding, farmland reduction,
long-term and complex evolution process (Q. Li et al., 2022; Ma et al., and land degradation (Yi et al., 2014). The subsidence area of the
2021). After the mining system and layout are selected, the final ground Huainan mining area is expected to be 275.2 km2 by 2030, of which the
subsidence basin morphology is determined. However, it is worth noting ponding will reach 195.4 km2, accounting for 71% of the subsidence
that the differences in spatial and temporal mining subsidence caused by area (Chen et al., 2016).
different mining sequences are also crucial for land reclamation plan­ The mine was put into production in 2007 with a production scale of
ning and layout (Kabwe, 2017). 10 Mt/a in the primary mineable coal seams of the upper coal seam 13-1
The study aims to study the surface movement and deformation of and lower coal seam 11-2, which are located in the center of the Shanxi
MSRM from the perspective of mining subsidence and then optimize the Group of the Permian and the Upper and Lower Stone Box Formations.
land reclamation plan from the source. The Guqiao coal mine in the coal The average thickness of the coal seam 13-1 and coal seam 11-2 are 4.0
and grain composite region with HGT in Huainan City of Anhui Province m and 3.0 m, respectively, and the average depths are 570 m and 650 m,
in China was selected as a research object. The detailed objectives of this respectively. The mining method adopts comprehensive mechanized
study are to: (1) analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of coal coal mining with full height at one time, and the roof was managed by
mining subsidence water area based on remote sensing images; (2) study the full caving method. The landform of the mining area is flat, with an
the surface deformation law and water accumulation degree under elevation of 30–40 m and a groundwater depth of 2.0 m. Due to the long-
different mining schemes by numerical simulation; (3) evaluate term and high-intensity underground mining, the ground has formed a

Fig. 1. Location of the study area: (a) location of Guqiao coal mine, (b) surface topography and location of coal seam 11-2 and coal seam 13-1, (c) distribution of coal
mining-induced ponding area in 2020.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

sizeable perennial subsidence water accumulation area, resulting in 2.3.2. Classification of land damage in the subsidence area
flooding of arable land and forced relocation of residents in the subsi­ Mining subsidence affects soil properties, hydrology and topography
dence area. (Lechner et al., 2016a). In high groundwater table plain mining area, the
main subsidence impacts on farmland are altered soil and groundwater
hydrology, modified topography associated with increased erosion or
2.2. Data source and preprocessing waterlogging risk, and zones of compaction or cracking that cause soil
physical and chemical changes (Moomen and Dewan, 2016; Xiao et al.,
2.2.1. Data sources 2021).
Data from thirteen periods from 2008 to 2020 were selected for this Most directly, mining subsidence leads to the relative rise of the
study to examine the growth of collapsed wetlands in the past. The underground water table, and seasonal or permanent water accumula­
original data of the study area were remote sensing images from the tion will appear on the surface. Soil salinization may occur when surface
Chinese geospatial data cloud (http://www.gscloud.cn/)with a spatial evaporation is significant in seasonally waterlogged areas. Land use
resolution of 30 m. Landsat ETM remote sensing images were used for types have been completely changed in permanently waterlogged re­
the first five periods, and Landsat OLI remote sensing images were used gions, and soil productivity has been wholly lost (Xu et al., 2019; H. B.
from 2013 to 2020. Images acquired each year were selected from April Zhang et al., 2019).
to October with less than 10% cloud cover. In addition, the underground Meanwhile, uneven subsidence in the surface movement basin will
mining time and boundary of coal seams were obtained from the Guqiao lead to ground tilt and change the slope of cultivated land. On the one
coal mine. hand, it affects the effect of irrigation. On the other hand, the different
slopes can also lead to the loss of soil organic matter and nutrients. In
2.2.2. Data preprocessing addition, due to the varying degree of surface slope, curvature causes
Preprocessing includes band superposition, radiometric calibration, tensile and compressive deformation of cultivated land to change soil
atmospheric correction, image clipping, and other steps realized by structure. The former reduces the soil density, and even cracks in the
ENVI software. Among them, 432 band combinations were selected for surface, accelerating the erosion of arable soil and soil erosion. The
band superposition, a standard false-color image. The vegetation was latter increases soil density, reduces soil porosity, and is also not
red, and the water body was black. The map had a good sense of hier­ conducive to plant growth (Jing et al., 2018, 2020; Kumar Vishwakarma
archy, which could improve the accuracy and speed of interpretation. et al., 2018).
The superimposed false color map was calibrated by using the calibra­ As shown in Table 1, to carry out land reclamation in the mining
tion utility tool in ENVI software. The Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric area, apart from the damage mechanism of land under mining subsi­
Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH) module was used to complete dence, the classification of land damage level should be determined.
the atmospheric correction process to eliminate the error of the remote Given the mining subsidence depth and the buried depth of the
sensing sensor itself and the radiation error caused by atmospheric groundwater level are the main control factors of the mining subsidence
scattering. After image cutting, the scope of the subsidence water area water in the high groundwater level mining area, the mining subsidence
was preliminarily delimited. basin was classified into no ponding area, seasonal ponding area, and

2.3. Relationship between subsidence ponding and underground mining Table 1

Classification standard of land damage.
2.3.1. Mechanism of mining subsidence ponding Damage Subsidence Ponding Description Legend
There are many coal mining subsidence ponding areas in eastern degree
China’s HGT plain mining areas. The main reason is that after the coal Light 0.1–1.0 m No Slight surface
seam is mined, the in-situ stress balance conditions are destroyed. With damage ponding deformation
the continuous advancement of the mining face, the goaf area gradually basically does
not affect
increases, and the roof rock stratum bends and moves downward under vegetation
the action of its gravity and overlying rock strata (Jiang et al., 2021), growth
forming a caving zone, fracture zone, and bending zone above the goaf Moderate 1.0–2.0 m Seasonal Significant
(Fig. 2). damage ponding surface
deformation,
When the Quaternary loose layer is thick, and there is a stable water-
seriously
resisting layer and HGT, shallow groundwater is transformed from affecting
vertical infiltration or underground runoff into lateral recharge. The vegetation
permanent and seasonal water centered on goaf are formed under the growth
combined action of atmospheric rainfall, surface runoff, and HGT. It Severe >2.0 m Perennial Severe ground
damage ponding subsidence and
expands with the continuous extraction of the coal seam. The ecological damage, losing
system structure of the mining area has changed from a terrestrial farming
ecosystem to an aquatic-terrestrial composite ecosystem (Xiao et al., capability
2018).

Fig. 2. Evolution mechanism of underground mining-induced surface subsidence and ponding.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

permanent ponding area according to the degree of surface ponding. degree of land damage at different mining stages are determined ac­
Correspondingly, land damage was defined as light damage, moderate cording to the evaluation index of damage degree. Finally, taking
damage, and severe damage area. The location (farmland) between the earthwork balance as the standard (Liu et al., 2021), designing the
traditional mining subsidence boundary (− 10 mm) and the mild damage reclamation scope and reclamation elevation under different reclama­
area boundary (− 0.1 m) was almost not affected by mining subsidence tion times, and determining the land use layout of the mining subsidence
and was not considered in the classification scheme. These standard area. In turn, the coal mining scheme in the coal mine can be optimized
divisions will facilitate the temporal and spatial analysis of land mining according to the layout of reclamation in the subsidence area.
damage from the perspective of mining subsidence. Combining coal mining and reclamation planning can maximize the
exploitation of coal resources and the utilization of land resources.
2.4. Methodology
2.4.2. Identification of subsidence ponding
2.4.1. Overview of CMR At present, water index is widely used by remote sensing community
As described in the flow chart (Fig. 3), based on the investigation of for extracting surface water body. The normalized difference water
mining geological conditions, the original topographic data and the index (NDWI) was first proposed to detect water bodies in Landsat
occurrence conditions of coal seam and overlying strata are determined scenes using the reflectance of green and NIR bands (McFeeters, 1996).
to provide parameters for surface subsidence prediction. At the same A modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI) was proposed
time, the groundwater table is investigated to provide a standard for by replacing the NIR band with the SWIR band to suppress the signal
land damage classification. Then, the surface subsidence data at from build-up land when the background is dominated by it (Xu, 2006).
different mining stages are calculated using the coal mining subsidence Based on the fact that the reflectance of water in the blue band is higher
prediction software or numerical simulation software. The scope and than that in the green band, and the short-wave infrared band of water

Fig. 3. Flow chart of CMR in the HGT mining area.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

also has a strong absorption rate, the NWI method (Ding, 2009) was used layer was considered, and the effect of force was not considered
for water body information extraction, and its formula is as follows: in other directions.
(3) Mechanical parameters of rock in the numerical model. The ac­
Blue − (NIR + MIR + SWIR)
NWI = ∗C curacy of geotechnical, mechanical parameters plays a decisive
Blue + (NIR + MIR + SWIR)
role in the reliability of numerical simulation results. According
to the geological field data and the mechanical property test re­
where Blue represents the blue band of remote sensing image, NIR
sults of coal and rock blocks provided by corresponding research,
represents the near-infrared band, MIR represents the mid-infrared
and combined with the influence of the rock scale effect, the rock
band, and SWIR represents the short-wave infrared band. C is a con­
mass mechanical parameters of each layer were finally deter­
stant; the purpose is to stretch the value interval of NWI to facilitate the
mined (Table 2). The constitutive model used in the numerical
selection of the threshold value. Here C is taken as 255.
simulation was the Mohr-Coulomb model, which follows the
The Otsu algorithm (Yang et al., 2021) was used to automatically
consolidation yield criterion of soil.
threshold segment the gray image with enhanced water information,
(4) Simulation mining schemes. According to the actual production
extract the water from the background ground class, and export the
capacity and mining plan, the simulation was set to ten mining
water in a TIFF image. Finally, the obtained water TIFF files were con­
stages according to the year (Table 3).
verted into SHP elements in ArcGIS, and the subsidence ponding data
(5) Model Verification. The simulation results showed that the sub­
over the years were obtained through the statistics of element class area.
sidence coefficient of the first mining seam is 0.89 and the sub­
The specific process is shown in Fig. 4.
sidence coefficient of the repetitive mining face is 0.96, which is
in line with the reference range of empirical subsidence co­
2.4.3. Numerical modeling of mining subsidence
efficients in “Guidelines for Coal Pillar Retention and Coal Mining
Numerical simulation is a fast and intuitive method to evaluate the
in Buildings, Water Bodies, Railways, and Main Wells” for mines
characteristics of surface movement and the degree of land subsidence
with general thick loose layer geological conditions. Meanwhile,
caused by underground longwall mining to analyze the spatio-temporal
the numerical simulation of surface movement deformation
distribution of surface ponding caused by multi-coal seam mining
basically conforms to the mining law under general geological
(Ghabraie et al., 2017). The numerical simulation steps are as follows:
mining conditions, i.e., the surface subsidence basin becomes
steeper with the increase of mining times, and the range of sub­
(1) Model building. The FLAC3D (Itasca, Minnesota, USA) numerical
sidence basin increases slightly during repeated mining. The
model was built on the repeated mining geological conditions of
above comparison illustrates the credibility of the simulations.
the coal seam 11-2 and coal seam 13-1 in the Guqiao coal mine.
According to the actual lithology characteristics of the working
Considering the different mining thickness and buried depth of 11-2
face, the rock strata within the simulation range were general­
and 13-1 coal seams, combined with whether to adopt skip mining
ized, and the rock strata with a small thickness or similar physical
technology, four schemes of downward sequential mining (MS I),
and mechanical properties were combined. Referring to the
downward skip mining (MS II), up-warding sequential mining (MS III),
actual mining layout of coal seam, ten working faces were ar­
and up-warding skip mining (MS IV) were established in the numerical
ranged in each coal seam with the size of 250 × 2500 m, and the
model to reveal the influence of mining sequence on the surface subsi­
mining size of each coal seam is 2500 × 2500 m. In addition, to
dence of multi coal seams.
reduce the error of the boundary effect, the distance between the
geometric boundary of the model and the mining boundary of the
coal seam was 750 m. That is, select a large enough model size to 3. Results
make the displacement of the model boundary not affected by
mining activities to meet the simulation and analysis re­ 3.1. Variation of subsidence ponding area from 2008 to 2020
quirements of the mining subsidence scope. The simulated model
size was 4000 m × 4000 m × 700 m (length × width × height), as The overlay of annual water area and underground mining progress
shown in Fig. 5. was shown in Fig. 6.
(2) Boundary conditions and in-situ stress. The boundary conditions Small-scale water accumulation occurred in 2008 after the end of the
and in-situ stress of the model were set as follows: i) Normal first mining face. In 2009, with the continuation of the annual mining
constraints were set on the sides of the model to limit the hori­ plan, several independent linear water areas were formed due to the
zontal movement of the model; ii) Vertical and horizontal con­ shape of the longwall mining face. In 2011, connectivity began between
straints were set on the bottom boundary of the model to limit the separate waters. Afterward, with the westward extension of the working
horizontal and vertical displacement; iii) The top surface of the face, the water area also expanded westward. In 2018, the water area no
model was a free boundary. The in-situ stress was generated ac­ longer increased. The total water area reached 1049 hm2 in 2020. The
cording to the gravity stress and the acceleration from gravity analysis of temporal and spatial variation showed that the evolution
was 9.8 m/s2. In the loading mode, only the self-weight of each trend of the collapsed water area was consistent with the coal mining in
the study area.

Fig. 4. Flow chart of mining subsidence water identification.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

Fig. 5. Numerical simulation model.

Table 2
Physical and mechanical parameters of coal seams and rock strata (Kuai et al., 2018).
Lithology Thickness (m) Bulk modulus (GPa) Shear modulus (GPa) Cohesion (MPa) Internal friction angle(◦ ) Tensile strength (MPa) Density (kg⋅m− 3)

Loess 470 0.0016 0.0025 0.20 15 0.015 1800

Sandy mudstone 30 10.92 3.72 2.10 43 4.93 2690
Coarse sandstone 25 7.94 6.31 2.93 35 2.19 2547
Fine sandstone 35 1.95 1.25 1.03 35 1.68 2571
Siltstone 10 16.04 5.62 3.47 43 4.86 2558
Coal seam 13-1 4 1.90 0.93 2.00 27 0.28 1400
Mudstone 20 3.94 2.60 0.68 30 1.59 2463
Sandy mudstone 30 1.95 1.25 1.03 35 1.68 2571
Fine sandstone 20 3.94 2.60 0.68 30 1.59 2463
Coal seam 11-2 3 1.90 0.93 2.00 27 0.28 1400
Mudstone 53 3.94 2.60 0.68 30 1.59 2463

Table 3
Numerical simulation schemes.

Fig. 6. Dynamic land-use evolution in mining area in each mining stage: (a) superposition of annual water area change and underground mining progress, (b) annual
water area change statistics.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

3.2. Spatio-temporal evolution of simulated mining-induced subsidence are shown in Fig. 7.

After the mining of Stage 1, the surface began to sink, forming a
The main control factors affecting the mining subsidence ponding nearly elliptical subsidence basin centered on the goaf. MS I and MS III
are the land subsidence value and the underground water table eleva­ adopted sequential mining technology to extract two adjacent working
tion. The latter can be obtained from the mining area’s geological and faces in turn, and the maximum surface subsidence values were 2.08 m
hydrological observation data. Therefore, the dynamic vertical subsi­ and 1.34 m, respectively. The maximum subsidence values of MS II and
dence was the primary research factor of numerical simulation. The MS IV were 1.32 m and 0.94 m, respectively, by adopting skip mining
surface vertical displacement contours of each mining scheme in stages technology, which was smaller than the first two schemes. The

Fig. 7. Surface vertical displacement contours of different mining schemes: (a) MS I, (b) MS II, (c) MS III, (d) MS IV.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

subsidence scope expanded accordingly with the mining scope since subsidence values of MS II and MS IV after the completion of Stage 5
there exited an unmined working face between the two working faces. In reached 2.76 m and 2.23 m, respectively, which were smaller than those
Stage 2, the scope of surface subsidence expanded with the mining of of the first two schemes. The second layer of coal seam started to be
more working faces, and the center of the subsidence basin changed with mined from Stage 6, forming vertical repeated mining. With the
the advance of the mining area. In Stage 5, the mining of the first coal continuous mining of secondary coal seam, the subsidence depth was
seam was completed. In MS I and MS III, coal seam 13-1 (4 m) and coal also increased. By the end of the second coal seam mining in Stage 10,
seam 11-2 (3 m) were mined first, and the maximum subsidence values the maximum subsidence of the four schemes reached 6.71 m, 5.99 m,
were 3.55 m and 2.71 m, respectively. Similarly, the maximum 6.54 m, and 6.01 m, respectively. Repeated mining had further

Fig. 8. Land damage evolution of different mining schemes: (a) MS I, (b) MS II, (c) MS III, (d) MS IV.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

developed the cracks produced by mining the first coal seam. The mining was defined as reclamation stage 1, the second group of
fractured rock mass was challenging to transfer movement and defor­ working face mining was stage 2, followed by stage 3 to stage 10.
mation in the horizontal direction, resulting in repeated mining in the In the process of dynamic subsidence, the determination of soil
vertical direction would not significantly expand the range of surface excavation time depended on many factors. In this study, the
settlement. relationship between subsidence and groundwater table was used
to analyze the working time of soil excavation. To obtain the
3.3. Spatio-temporal evolution of simulated surface ponding maximum earthwork volume, the topsoil within the area where
seasonal and permanent ponding would form in the future
According to the standard of the damage degree specified in Section damaged area in the stage shall be stripped in time when there
2.3.2, the surface subsidence data of four mining schemes at different was no subsidence, and then deployed to the area with less
mining stages were extracted and imported into ArcGIS to plot the collapse and less serious damage and restored to cultivated land.
spatial and temporal changes of light damage area (LDA), moderate (3) Reclamation elevation. Reclamation elevation after surface sub­
damage area (MDA) and severe damage area (SDA) as shown in Fig. 8. sidence stability was one of the key technologies of CMR. In the
Based on the damaged area of each mining stage, radial stacked bar case of a certain amount of earthwork, reclamation elevation was
charts were drawn to quantitatively describe the evolution of surface negatively correlated with reclamation rate. The elevation was
subsidence ponding, as shown in Fig. 9. subject to the buried depth of the groundwater table to ensure
At Stage 1, the surface began to sink, and four mining schemes had that the crop rhizomes were not submerged and prevent soil
different degrees of damage. As counted in Table 4, MS I had the largest salinization, which was conducive to farming and plant growth.
damage degree, with an SDA of 25 hm2 and an MDA of 135 hm2. MS II To effectively utilize the limited earthwork to achieve the
and MS III also formed MDA of 166 hm2 and 88 hm2, respectively. MS IV maximum reclamation rate, the reclamation elevation was
had the lowest degree of surface damage, with an LDA of 482 hm2. After designed as the outer boundary of LDA (− 0.1 m).
the mining of Stage 2, 80 hm2 of SDA also appeared in MS III. At the
same time, the SDA of MS I had extended to 155 hm2. MS IV appeared The specific earthwork allocation schemes were shown in Fig. 10.
with an MDA of 175 hm2. In Stage 4 and Stage 5, the MS II and MS IV At the end of Stage 1 of mining, MS I, MS II, and MS III all had
gradually formed 152 hm2 and 141 hm2 of SDA. By the end of the mining different areas of water ponding, and reclamation measures could be
of the second coal seam in Stage 10, the MDA from MS I to MS IV reached taken, that is, the earthwork that would sink into the water in the
142 hm2, 146 hm2, 153 hm2, and 149 hm2, respectively, and the SDA planned digging area should be excavated in advance and backfilled in
came to 660 hm2, 656 hm2, 633 hm2 and 640 hm2, respectively. The the planned filling area. The available earthworks of MS I, MS II, and MS
surface subsidence area gradually expanded with the continuous mining III were 3,433,785 m3, 1,853,013 m3, and 2,371,806 m3, respectively, as
of coal seam, and the degree steadily increased. The proportion of LDA shown in Fig. 11. For MS IV, the surface movement deformation was
(non-ponding) and MDA (seasonal ponding) in the total damage area slight without water accumulation, and simple leveling measures could
was reduced, while the ratio of SDA (perennial ponding) area was restore the use of land. At Stage 2, seasonal water accumulated on the
increased. surface of MS IV, and reclamation measures can be taken. In this stage,
the available earthworks of the four schemes were 1,984,419 m3,
3.4. Land reclamation planning and layout of different mining schemes 1,025,211 m3, 2,291,595 m3, and 1,760,436 m3, respectively. At Stage
4, the water accumulation area formed by MS II and MS IV spread
Considering that Guqiao Mine does not have enough surface soil beyond the planned digging area. The soil excavation work of these two
substitute materials for filling reclamation, the reclamation scheme in schemes could be completed at this stage, and the available earthworks
this paper adopted the non-filling CMR based on deep-digging and were 956,007 m3 and 7,975,065 m3, respectively. Similarly, at Stage 5,
shallow-filling. The design points of CMR planning include: the water accumulation area formed under MS I and MS III spread
beyond the planned digging area. The soil excavation work of these two
(1) Reclamation layout. Generally, fish farming requires a water schemes could be completed, and the available earthworks were
depth of more than 3 m. At the same time, considering the 348,585 m3 and 923,976 m3, respectively.
feasibility of mechanical soil excavation, the digging depth was 3 From the simulation results in Table 5, it could be concluded that: (1)
m. The specific planning should comprehensively consider the After mining, the damaged areas of the four mining schemes were
impact of the final subsidence of mining area. Firstly, the 1094.56 hm2,1099.61 hm2,1081.99 hm2, and 1091.16 hm2, respec­
boundary of the excavation and fill area was preliminarily set, tively. The areas of farmland restored by CMR were 715.20 hm2, 719.66
and the earthwork required in the fill area was compared with hm2, 714.73 hm2, and 729.27 hm2, respectively, and the reclamation
that in the excavation area. Then, adjusting the boundary posi­ rate was 65%–67%. (2) Compared the reclamation duration of each
tion to make the two reach the earthwork balance, to determine scheme, MS I and MS III completed the reclamation planning in 5 years,
the final reclamation layout. and MS II and MS IV were 4 years and 3 years. Compared with the first
(2) Reclamation timing. Combined with the mining sequence and two schemes, the latter two schemes adopted skip mining with smaller
layout of the working face, the reclamation time was divided with surface subsidence and wider mining influence scope due to insufficient
the working face as the unit. The first group of two working face mining. The reclamation operation could be completed in the early stage

Fig. 9. Land damage area changes of different mining schemes: (a) MS I, (b) MS II, (c) MS III, (d) MS IV.

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Table 4
Statistics of land damage area in each mining stage.
Mining stage MS I area(hm2) MS II area(hm2) MS III area(hm2) MS IV area(hm2)

L M S L M S L M S L M S

S1 278 135 25 332 166 – 338 88 – 482 – –

S2 274 118 155 527 234 – 308 147 80 556 175 –
S3 303 156 265 545 496 – 355 213 143 802 214 –
S4 333 168 365 453 487 152 384 225 244 539 547 –
S5 368 202 461 405 235 445 429 277 311 463 475 141
S6 355 184 559 357 187 557 397 268 427 378 230 484
S7 340 179 581 341 178 585 378 260 456 361 210 525
S8 328 171 597 330 165 606 359 235 494 346 182 565
S9 315 159 618 314 154 633 338 171 575 326 162 606
S10 292 142 660 298 146 656 295 153 633 303 149 640

Fig. 10. Earthwork allocation scheme at each stage.

of mining and shorted the reclamation duration. (3) Compared to MS II digging and shallow filling and land leveling (Fig. 12a). The area of
and MS IV, the thickness of the coal seam in the early stage of MS IV was farmland recovered after TR was 355.72 hm2, accounting for 32% of the
small, resulting in slight surface subsidence in the first stage without total area of the damaged area.
water accumulation, which prolonged the land use time and was the best CMR planned reclamation work before mining, and to strip and
mining scheme. The above results showed that the temporal and spatial excavate the land that would be seriously affected in the future in
evolution of mining subsidence could be changed by adjusting the advance. On the one hand, it avoided the difficulty of saving a large
mining scheme, thus determining the implementation efficiency of number of land resources in the later period. On the other hand, it
reclamation. provided high-quality soil source for the reclamation of areas with
relatively light subsidence. Therefore, after the reclamation work, the
3.5. Comparison of TR and CMR farmland area in the study area increased significantly, while the water
area decreased. In the specific implementation, CMR method planned
A common TR strategy used to reclaim subsided land is Deep-digging the water and farmland layout according to the volume of the final
and shallow-filling based on the stable mining subsidence basin, namely subsidence basin based on earthwork balance (Fig. 12c). In the process
post-mining reclamation. At this time, the land has been seriously of dynamic surface subsidence, the soil within the planned water area
damaged and most of the subsidence land was difficult to recover to the was stripped in advance (D1, D2, and D3) and backfilled to the planned
original land and become perennial water accumulation area. In the farmland area (F1, F2, and F3) to avoid this part of soil being submerged
absence of external soil sources and filling materials, the edge of the in water, improving the reclamation rate. On the whole, there were
subsidence areas (D0) with light subsidence degree could be reclaimed obvious differences between TR and CMR in the final reclamation
into farmland (F0) for continue farming taking measures such as deep layout.

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

Fig. 11. The amount of earthwork available at each stage.

Based on the analysis above, the damage sequence of land was

Table 5
closely related to the mining plan of the coal seam. Due to the HGT,
Comparison of reclamation rate.
MSRM, and lack of filling materials in the eastern plain mining area, the
Scheme Damage Reclamation Reclamation Reclamation reclamation rate was difficult to reach 100% no matter what reclama­
area (hm2) area (hm2) duration rate
tion technology was adopted. A good selection of underground mining
MS I 1094.56 715.20 S1–S5 65% schemes could effectively control the Spatio-temporal overlying strata
MS II 1099.61 719.66 S1–S4 65%
movement and surface damage to guide the optimal reclamation plan­
MS III 1081.99 714.73 S1–S5 66%
MS IV 1091.16 729.27 S2–S4 67%
ning of coal mine during mine life cycle.

4. Discussion
As shown in Table 6, 355.72 hm2 of farmland could be restored in TR
with a reclamation rate of 32%. For CMR, more earthworks could be 4.1. Comparative analysis of related reclamation technologies
obtained due to the early intervention of reclamation work, thus saving
729.27 hm2 of farmland with a reclamation rate of 67%. In addition, As an effective measure to balance the mining of coal resources and
CMR shortened the reclamation duration to three years to prolong the the protection of land resources, land reclamation (Fig. 13) has made
land use time in the reclamation area. considerable progress since the promulgation of the Provisions on Land

Fig. 12. Comparison of reclamation efficiency between TR and CMR: (a) earthwork allocation and reclamation layout of TR, (b) reclamation efficiency radar chart,
(c) earthwork allocation and reclamation layout of CMR.

Table 6
Comparison of TR and CMR.
Scheme Reclaimed reservoir (hm2) Reclaimed farmland (hm2) Reclamation duration (year) Earthwork (m3) Reclamation rate (%)

TR 738.84 355.72 10 1,621,369 32%

CMR 361.89 729.27 3 10,856,688 67%

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

Fig. 13. The development process of land reclamation technology in coal mining subsidence area.

Reclamation (1988) and the Regulations on Land Reclamation (2011). significant, and the surface is prone to damage and waterlogging.
Researchers have proposed typical land reclamation techniques in sub­ The waterlogged area is planned as a fish pond or reservoir
sidence areas, such as ground control, surface filling, and non-filling through deep excavation and planning by manual methods. At
reclamation techniques. the same time, according to the principle of earth balance, the
mined soil is filled near the area with less mining disturbance at
(1) Filling reclamation. In some areas with slight subsidence and low the edge of the subsidence basin and then restored to arable land.
ponding depth, the method of filling reclamation can be used, This method is widely used to land reclamation in eastern China’s
that is, serving the subsidence land with materials such as gangue high water table mining areas.
and fly ash and then manually leveling the subsidence land with (4) Dynamic reclamation. Deep-digging and shallow-filling mainly
bulldozers for reclamation. Currently, the coordinating treat­ focus on stable subsided land, which means most of the affected
ments for the eco-environment of mining areas and river sedi­ lands are submerged into the water because of the high ground­
ments in the Yellow River Basin use the Yellow River sediment as water table, leading to the loss of soils and inefficient reclamation
filling material, topsoil alternatives, and soil-improving materials (Hu and Xiao, 2013; Xiao et al., 2014a). Dynamic reclamation is a
for the ecological restoration of the mining area (Duo and Hu, development trend of ecological restoration in the mining area. It
2018), which provides a new idea to solve the shortage of filling emphasizes that treatments should be taken during or before land
material for land reclamation in the mining subsidence area. damage to control environmental degradation (Chen and Hang,
(2) Ground control. Ground control aims to control or slow down 2018). The mining phases are rationally divided according to the
surface subsidence by adjusting mining methods to eliminate or mining plan, and dynamic subsidence prediction is performed.
reduce the environmental damage caused by mining from the Then, the land damage is assessed based on the topography and
source, including backfilling mining, strip mining and coordi­ the degree of surface movement deformation at each stage. Based
nated mining, etc. However, filling mining requires many filling on the results of dynamic land damage assessment, calculation of
materials (Bian et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2015). Therefore, how to soil excavation control time, the establishment of soil recon­
achieve the balance of coal mine solid waste production and struction procedure, and layout of earthwork construction for
filling and solving the problem of high filling cost (Wang et al., each mining stage are carried out (Hu et al., 2016b). Since the
2021; Zhu et al., 2019) are the top priorities for the further pro­ construction of earth acquisition is carried out during mining
motion of filling mining in the field of land reclamation. subsidence, the obtained earth can increase the amount of culti­
(3) Deep-digging and shallow-filling. In plain mining areas, fill ma­ vated land and improve the reclamation rate.
terial is scarce. A common strategy used to reclaim subsided land (5) CMR focuses on the coupling of underground mining and ground
is Deep-digging and shallow-filling (Liu et al., 2021). In the reclamation measures (G. Li et al., 2022). On the one hand, based
central area of the subsidence basin, the vertical subsidence is on the concept of Dynamic reclamation, the reclamation timing

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

and supporting reclamation schemes are optimized before or high-intensity coal mining can provide rich lessons for other developing
during surface subsidence to achieve a high reclamation rate, low countries.
reclamation cost, and maximize ecological benefits. On the other
hand, based on the theory of ground control, surface damage and 4.3. Limitations and future works
reclamation cost are minimized by optimizing mining plans,
strata control technology, and ground reclamation measures. However, the study has several limitations: (1) As hidden informa­
tion, the damage boundary of coal mining subsidence is related to many
A substantial limitation of land reclamation is the reliance on a large factors such as subsidence, land use, soil, plant growth, and groundwater
number of earthworks to be effective, especially the protection of topsoil table, which is difficult to accurately determine (Liu et al., 2019). (2) In
to restore the production capacity of the affected site in time after the addition to the mining sequence studied in this paper, other mining
reclamation project (Kida et al., 2021). Unlike post-mining reclamation, factors such as the layout of the mining system, mining direction, mining
CMR optimizes when, where, and how to reclaim from a mine life cycle method and roof management method, and advancement speed also
perspective. It maximizes sustainable land use by rescuing the most land affect the pattern of surface subsidence (Yin et al., 2022). (3) It is
resources while safeguarding coal production and increasing reclama­ impossible to achieve zero loss of arable land in subsidence areas
tion rates. In this study, CMR is a surface reclamation scheme based on without external filling materials, and it is necessary to find economic
the optimization of underground mining sequences. It will gradually and scientific materials for filling reclamation (Min et al., 2022).
transition to the organic coupling of surface reclamation planning and Future research will focus on:(1) The main effects of mining subsi­
underground green mining technologies (Xuan and Xu, 2017). dence on arable land include changes in soil and groundwater hydrol­
ogy, modified topography associated with increased erosion or
4.2. Implications of CMR in coal-grain composite area waterlogging risk, and zones of compaction or cracking that cause soil
physical and chemical changes that need to be further studied. Thus, the
Mining and in particular coal mining is one of the key drivers of land extent of land damage can be scientifically defined while providing a
degradation worldwide both in developed nations such as Spain, the valuable reference for land reclamation and precision agriculture in
USA, England and Australia (Chaudhuri et al., 2015; Haigh et al., 2015; mining areas (Tripathi et al., 2009). (2) It is necessary to research
Martín-Moreno et al., 2016) and emerging economies such as Mongolia, restoration options for different green mining measures (partial back­
China, India and Africa (Lechner et al., 2016a). Mining-induced land filling mining, strip mining, and coordinated mining) in synergy with
degradation presents a significant conflict between agriculture and surface reclamation (Bai et al., 2022). (3) There is a need to find green
mining, where arable land and coal coexist. Examples include Queens­ and easily accessible topsoil alternative materials (e.g., river sediments)
land and New South Wales in Australia (Petkova-Timmer et al., 2014), to carry out concurrent mining and filling reclamation with the goal of
Illinois in the United States (Darmody et al., 2014), and the zero loss of cultivated land (Hu et al., 2022).
Huang-Huai-Hai Plain in eastern China (He et al., 2021). It brings a
considerable challenge to China, where only 7% of the world’s arable 5. Conclusions
land supports one-fifth of its population (Kong, 2014; Piao et al., 2010).
Current research on land reclamation in mining areas is mainly The multiple-seam repeated mining-induced surface is a long-term
focused on the post-mining phase (Amirshenava and Osanloo, 2022; Hu and complex evolution process. The spatial and temporal changes of
et al., 2018). It is not the best solution for environmental protection mining subsidence caused by different mining schemes are crucial to
because the mining cycle is decades long, and the damaged environment mine land reclamation planning and layout. In this study, the mining
is sometimes difficult to recover (Lechner et al., 2016b). Therefore, sequence was used as the variable four groups of numerical models were
reducing surface damage by optimizing mining design before excavation established to analyze the surface deformation law, ponding evolution
is a more worthwhile option (Wang et al., 2020). Besides, China’s land characteristics, and reclamation planning. The results revealed that: (1)
use and management departments tend to learn from the experience of Although different mining schemes did not change the final surface
developed countries to select some typical cases to create a good image, subsidence layout after the end of mining activities, they had an
such as restoring abandoned mining pits in open pit mines into mining essential impact on subsidence basins’ time and spatial distribution. (2)
parks or hotels in post-mining restoration and restoring ponding areas Compared with TR’s reclamation rate of 32%, CMR could effectively use
into ecological parks with water storage (B. H. Zhang et al., 2019), fish land resources to increase the reclamation rate to 65–67%. (3)
farming, and recreation (S. Li et al., 2022). These may be good ideas, but Compared with the CMR schemes under four mining schemes, MS IV
more importantly, land use planning should consider the local (up-warding skip mining) was considered to be the optimal mining
conditions. scheme, which not only shortened the land reclamation duration and
The Chinese government has implemented strict arable land policies effectively alleviated the long-term idle problem of subsidence land but
and regulations to protect arable land in terms of area, layout, quality, also ensured the high reclamation rate of subsidence in the coal mining
and ecology, exceptionally high-quality arable land located in plain area. Therefore, it was suggested that the mining factors should be
areas. Like the progressive rehabilitation approaches of open-pit mines comprehensively considered in land reclamation planning. A variety of
(Lechner et al., 2016b), CMR in underground coal mines emphasizes the mining schemes should be formulated and compared to obtain the
implementation during the mining process rather than post-mining. optimal mining scheme and design the optimal land reclamation
CMR avoids the permanent loss of high-quality cultivated land due to scheme.
the large-scale water accumulation after the coal mining subsidence is
stable in the coal mining subsidence with a high groundwater level. CRediT authorship contribution statement
Besides, it shortens the time of cultivated land abandonment caused by
land damage. CMR can effectively use land resources, improve the Zhanjie Feng: Data curation, Writing – original draft, Formal anal­
reclamation rate, and play a significant role in promoting the treatment ysis. Zhenqi Hu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Fund­
of mining-induced subsidence in HGT coal mining areas (G. Li et al., ing acquisition. Gensheng Li: Investigation, Writing – review & editing.
2022). It is of great practical significance to strengthen the research and Yuhang Zhang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Xi Zhang:
practice of CMR for protecting land resources, alleviating the contra­ Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Hao Zhang: Data curation,
diction between people and land, and ensuring energy security and food Visualization.
security. As the largest developing country, the challenges, experiences,
and lessons learned from China’s arable land conservation in areas of

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Z. Feng et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 379 (2022) 134615

Declaration of competing interest Han, J., Hu, Z., Wang, P., Yan, Z., Li, G., Zhang, Y., Zhou, T., 2022. Spatio-temporal
evolution and optimization analysis of ecosystem service value - a case study of coal
resource-based city group in Shandong, China. J. Clean. Prod. 363, 132602 https://
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2022.132602.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence He, T., Xiao, W., Zhao, Y., Chen, W., Deng, X., Zhang, J., 2021. Continues monitoring of
the work reported in this paper. subsidence water in mining area from the eastern plain in China from 1986 to 2018
using Landsat imagery and Google Earth Engine. J. Clean. Prod. 279, 123610
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123610.
Data availability He, T., Xiao, W., Zhao, Y.L., Deng, X., Hu, Z., 2020. Identification of waterlogging in
Eastern China induced by mining subsidence: a case study of Google Earth Engine
time-series analysis applied to the Huainan coal field. Remote Sens. Environ. 242,
No data was used for the research described in the article. 111742 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111742.
Hu, T., Chang, J., Liu, X.X., Feng, S., 2018. Integrated methods for determining
Acknowledgements restoration priorities of coal mining subsidence areas based on green infrastructure:
–A case study in the Xuzhou urban area, of China. Ecol. Indicat. 94, 164–174.
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This work is supported by the Jiangsu Province University Innova­ Hu, Z., Wang, X., McSweeney, K., Li, Y., 2022. Restoring subsided coal mined land to
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