Abstract
On February 22, 2023, a devastating landslide occurred on the mining slope of an open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China, leading to the mining area being buried and 53 fatalities. The source area of the landslide measured approximately 500 m in both length and width, with an estimated volume of the deposited material reaching approximately 5 million cubic metres. Based on the severe impact of this incident, our study conducted preliminary research using a combination of methodologies, including particle image analysis, synthetic aperture radar interferometry, interpretation of optical remote sensing data, and post-event news reports analysis. The results indicated that the landslide lasted 23 s from initiation to cessation of movement. The historical deformation indicated that prior to the resumption of the mining activities, only localized deformation was observed at the rear edge of the landslide. However, when mining activities resumed in April 2021 and extended to the vicinity of the north slope, the deformation range and rate in the source area of the landslide rapidly increased. The investigation deduced that the soft foundation at the slope bottom and mining activities are the primary causative factors of this event. Mining activities, which stripped coal seams within the slope and surface rock masses, led to the expansion of tension cracks within the landslide body, weakening resisting forces at the leading edge and thus playing a significant role in destabilizing the landslide body. The evolution of the landslide from incubation to instability could be divided into four stages: early microcrack development, slow creep, accelerated deformation after resumption of mining, and ultimate instability. Therefore, it is of great significance to advance real-time deformation monitoring and early warning systems specifically those designed for mining slope areas by comprehensive measures. Furthermore, enhancing the high-frequency monitoring capabilities of synthetic aperture radar satellites is crucial to reducing the occurrence of these catastrophic events.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We express our gratitude to European Space Agency (ESA) for providing us with free access to Sentinel-1 datasets through the Sentinels Scientific Data Hub, and we also express our gratitude to the Planet Explorer for their provision of freely available daily updated optical imagery, which has been instrumental in aiding the interpretation of geomorphic changes.
Funding
This research is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFC3000401), the National Key Research and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41941019), the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2023YFS0435), the Yangtze River Joint Research Phase II Program (Grant No. 2022-LHYJ-02–0201), and the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection Independent Research Project (Grant No. SKLGP2022Z007).
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Li, Z., Li, W., Xu, Q. et al. Preliminary analysis of the catastrophic February 22nd 2023 Xinjing open-pit mine landslide, Inner Mongolia, China. Landslides 21, 1053–1067 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02229-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02229-5