Underground burning of Jharia Coal Mine (India) and Associated Surface Deformation using InSAR Data

Abstract

The underground burning in the Jharia coal mine (JCM) in India is a highly devastating environmental hazard inducing various adverse consequences. In the present study, we carried out time series analyses based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and land surface temperature (LST) to study the environmental risk. First, a permanent scatterer (PS) time series analysis using Sentinel-1 images over three years was performed to detect the spatio-temporal distribution of ground deformation. Comparison of ground thermal anomaly clearly delineated the subsidence spots associated with the oxygen supply to combustion areas. On the contrary, few deformations were mapped showing pronounced uplift up to 10 mm/year compared with the horizontal creeping associated with underground fire activities. Such ground deformation and thermal anomaly patterns have never been observed. We modeled these observations from satellite data as a consequence of a strong pressurized source that induces surface migration in the coal mine and surrounding geological formations. Further, detailed investigations and modeling are required to mitigate the impact of hazards associated with the underground fires at different locations in the JCM.