Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Subsidence in Eastern Jharia, India

Abstract

Jharia, one of the oldest and most significant mining areas, is facing the issue of subsidence for different reasons, such as coal fires, underground mining, and soil sensitivity towards seasonal change. This paper concentrates on the subsidence analysis of the Eastern region of the Jharia Coalfield from January 2018 to January 2021. Sentinal-1 SLC SAR imagery is used for multi-image sparse point processing and generating time series. Data processing is done using SARPROZ software. Further, the PS points inside the study area are filtered, and a classification map is drawn using ArcGIS software. The yearly percentage change of different classified zones is examined. The percentage change is significant for subsiding and uplifting zones but minimal for stable zones. Different critically and highly subsiding areas are identified by overlaying the classification zones on the topographic map. The seasonal variation of cumulative displacement is also examined, and patterns are analyzed. Different regions have different sensitivity towards seasonal variation. Overall, this paper provides insightful deformation results over Eastern Jharia for 2018-2021.