The development of surface steps during mining subsidence: “Not due to fault reactivation”

In spite of the voluminous literature which has been collated over the past ca. 150 years regarding the occurrence, prediction and control of the various phenomena associated with mining subsidence, the behaviour of geological faults during such subsidence is still poorly understood. It is generally appreciated that the reactivation of faults during mining events, and the consequent formation of a step in the surface topography, is complex and variable, and can result in extensive and spectacular structural damage. Within the past ca. two yearsevidence from the British and Ukrainian coalfields has been correlated which suggests that the surface steps formed and effected in the topography may be centred over contrasting lithological contacts such as bedding planes, joints, unconformities and the outcrop of fold axes.