Unique documentation, analysis of origin and development of an undrained depression in a subsidence basin caused by underground coal mining (Kozinec, Czech Republic)

Abstract

This article aims to explain and demonstrate the origin and development of a subsidence basin caused by coal mining as well as to point out important aspects of this phenomenon in engineering geology. Engineering geology needs to deal with a number of issues related to the origin and development of subsidence basins in areas affected by deep coal mining. An interesting case study from the Upper-Silesian Basin in the northeast of the Czech Republic near the Polish border is presented in this paper. There is a clear time chronological succession in the ground surface changes manifested by a ground subsidence gradation, both in their absolute values as well as in their spatial distribution. The phenomenon is documented by aerial photo time series, which optimally depict the origin and development of the subsidence. In the study area, there are changes in the landscape elements and it is essential to be considered in future land use plans. The marginal conditions of the Quaternary geological structure and hydrogeological conditions are responsible for an unconfined aquifer which manifests there as a water body in an undrained depression in the course of the ground subsidence.