Reactivation of geological faults during mining subsidence from 1859 to 2000 and beyond

Abstract

Geological faults are susceptible to reactivation during mining subsidence. This may result in the generation of fault scarps, which can cause damage to structures and land. Mining-induced fault reactivation has been documented from 1859 to 2000. The earlier works were carried out as part of much broader investigations of mining subsidence. The principles of mining subsidence and fault reactivation mechanisms were not fully appreciated at that time and confusing and contradictory statements on the origin and mechanisms of fault reactivation were often the result. It was the use of instrumentation, from the 1950s onwards, that enabled ground deformation in the vicinity of fault outcrops to be monitored quantitatively as the ground was affected by mining subsidence. This was necessary to verify compensation claims for damage to structures and land caused by movements along faults. In the late 1980s and early 1990s research into fault reactivation was recommended by the United Kingdom Government and commissioned by the former British Coal Corporation. This research enabled the factors that influence fault reactivation to be identified more precisely and enabled the likelihood of fault reactivation to be deduced. This research also suggested that some faults in certain circumstances might experience reactivation in the absence of current mining owing, for instance, to groundwater discharge along faults or mine-water rebound following coalfield abandonment.