Does coal mining cause the Earth’s crust to lose its balance due to stress? Could it trigger an earthquake?
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Is the earthquake in Sichuan related to the Three Gorges Project? The ground beneath Shanxi is mostly empty, so the stress on the Earth’s crust is bound to become unbalanced – could this lead to a major earthquake? Let an expert explain it. I don’t know if houses in Shanxi have a higher earthquake resistance rating than those in other places ? This post was last edited by Tjuleo on 2009-4-12 13:55]
Hehe, what the original poster said makes a lot of sense; but it’s possible that these factors weren’t taken into account when buildings were constructed in Taiyuan!
It doesn’t necessarily trigger major earthquakes, but once one does occur, the situation there will definitely be disastrous.
It seems it could cause surface subsidence. Coal mining is generally not done at great depths, so it isn’t sufficient to cause earthquakes.
The exploitation of mineral resources certainly causes changes in the stresses on the Earth’s crust, but measures have been taken to ensure the stability of the crust in those areas after extraction, in order to avoid disasters resulting from such changes. In oil extraction, the use of water injection techniques serves two purposes: to increase production and to fill the voids left behind after oil extraction, thereby maintaining stress balance as much as possible.
There might be reasons in this regard, which to some extent can be considered incentives. Disasters such as earthquakes are mainly caused by problems within the Earth, but they are also related to many other factors.
I’ve heard of water injection, but how is it done exactly? It’s not moving water from one coal mine to another, is it? I’ve heard that water leakage accidents are caused in this way. Water was clearly poured underground, but due to the reckless digging in the small coal mine, a passage was created by accident, and water flowed in.
Didn’t collapses occur in the coal mining areas around Huaibei and Huainan? Shanxi might collapse one day as well: lol
Coal mining disrupts the original mechanical equilibrium within the Earth's crust. It causes surface subsidence, and the existing ecosystem is damaged. Such damage leads to a reduction or loss of the income generated by the land, and it also causes damage to surface water management facilities as well as deterioration of the ecological environment. The area of surface subsidence caused by mining each year has reached 400,000 hectares, with an average annual increase of 15,000 hectares.
Now everyone is spreading this in the public sphere; **it’s time to step in and clarify things.
Due to underground mining, changes in stress on the Earth’s crust are bound to occur. Therefore, once the resources in an underground mine are exhausted, various backfilling measures are taken to fill the mine with soil and other materials. I haven’t heard of earthquakes occurring as a result of underground mining, but I have indeed heard of large-scale subsidence areas resulting from it.
I think it itself may not necessarily trigger earthquakes, but the seismic resistance of such geological conditions is much lower. But once an earthquake occurs in the vicinity, the effects in the goaf areas could be much more severe than elsewhere; landslides and other disasters might occur, and it’s even possible for lakes to form in Shanxi. This post was last edited by Tian Sheng Cai Ren on 2009-4-14 at 08:59.]
Everyone’s assumptions make sense; earthquakes are indeed the result of multiple factors coming together. The main factors should be the distribution of earthquake zones and seismic cycles; coal mining might just be a contributing factor, a very minor one at that. As long as one avoids periods of high seismic activity, the impact will be minimal; otherwise, the consequences could be disastrous. Things that are extremely difficult to prevent can only be left to fate. This post was last edited by yangruyiyantai on 2009-4-14 10:44.]
The thickness of the lithosphere at the Earth’s surface is around 100 to 400 km. How deep can coal mines go? 1–2 km? For the Wenchuan earthquake, how far was the epicenter from the surface of the earth? 10km？ Reports of ground subsidence caused by so-called underground mining, regardless of the depth or rate of subsidence, cannot be compared to earthquakes... In my opinion, even if there is any impact, it is minimal... The above are just my personal views for reference only!
It is said that the thickness of the lithosphere at the Earth’s surface is around 100–400 km. How deep can coal mines go? 1–2 km? ” Consider it to be a coal mine at a depth of 1-2 KM; if it’s located in the lithosphere near the Earth’s core, then I also believe it won’t have much impact on people’s lives ； But it is within 1-2 KM of the surface, and that makes a difference. In the event of an earthquake, if the coal mining areas at those 1-2 KM depths collapse, what will happen to the buildings and the people living there? If the skin is gone, where can the hair attach itself? (It’s all based on individual assumptions.)
Brother! Earthquakes have no direct connection with coal mining; only nuclear explosions can trigger earthquakes. I won’t go into details about the thickness of the Earth’s crust, nor will I explain the mechanisms behind earthquakes. I’ll just ask: how deep can one go when mining coal?