Author 1:
Name & Surname: Semikobyla Ya. G.
Company: Research Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Cooperation INENKO (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Head of Mining Ecology Department
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences
Contacts: semikobylay@mail.ru

Author 2:
Name & Surname: Levenets V. N.
Company: Giproshakht Institute (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Principal Project Engineer

The article describes formation, nature, configurations and sizes of induced damage on the undermined terrain and the related change of natural relief and landscape, as well as the adverse effect exerted by the mining-induced ground surface damage on the regional ecosystems, industrial and civil engineering objects and service lines within underground mine leases. Aside from the natural factors of technogenesis (shape, thickness, occurrence depth, dip angle of mineral deposits, and physico-mechanical properties of enclosing and overlying rocks), the role of mining method and technology and ground control in mines where large mined-out voids are made is illustrated. As one of the criteria of ground surface subsidence and deformation, the authors take the ‘undermining ratio’ that is the ratio of mining depth to thickness of a deposit, a bed, a group of beds. This criterion is used in the geomechanical damage classification (by Skochinsky Institute of Mining) including 5 types of influence on ground surface. In terms of the closed mines of Leningradslanets company, the article describes prospecting of the area of a mine lease and a land allotment (including aerial views and satellite images) aimed to assess aggravating after-effects of mining-induced damage of ground surface on the regional ecosystems. This study is recommended for use in predicting the types and scales of mining-induced damage of ground surface, assessment of probable disbenefit, identifying the disbenefit minimization measures in overall planning, disturbed land reclamation, engineering and ecological exploration, environmental protection and other nature restoration activities within mine technical-and-economic substantiation and planning.

1. Zaydenvarg V. E., Navitniy A. M., Semikobyla Ya. G. Nauchnye osnovy kompleksnogo ekologicheskogo monitoringa rayona zakryvaemykh shakht (Scientific basis of complex ecological monitoring of closed shaft region). Moscow : Rosinformugol, 2002. 225 p.
2. Pravila okhrany sooruzheniy i prirodnykh obektov ot vrednogo vliyaniya podzemnykh gornykh vyrabotok na ugolnykh mestorozhdeniyakh (Rules for protection of constructions and natural objects from harmful impact of underground mining excavations on coal deposits). Saint Petersburg : VNIMI, 1998. 238 p. (in Russian)
3. Agapov A. E., Navitniy A. M., Semikobyla Ya. G. Nauchnye osnovy rekultivatsii narushennykh zemel v rayone zakryvaemykh gornykh predpriyatiy (Scientific basis of recultivation of disturbed lands in the regiom of closed mining enterprises). Moscow : Rosinformugol, 2003. 283 p.
4. Semikobyla Ya. G., Popova T. A. et al. Aerokosmicheskiy monitoring deformatsionnykh protsessov poverkhnosti i prirodnoy sredy rayona zakryvaemykh shakht Otkrytogo Aktsionernogo Obshchestva «Leningradslanets» (Aerospace monitoring of deformation processes of surface and natural environment of region of closed shafts of JSC «Leningradslanets»). Sbornik tezisov mezhdunarodnoy konferentsii «Aerokosmicheskiy monitoring sostoyaniya borealnykh lesov Evropy» (Collection of thesises of international conference «Aerospace monitoring of the state of European boreal forests»). Saint Petersburg : Research Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Cooperation of Russian Academy of Sciences, 2001. pp. 34–38.