Abstract:
Cracking the soil and water loss effects of mining-induced surface fissures in the coal mining area of the middle reaches of the Yellow River is of great significance for ecological environment protection and high-quality development in the coal mining region of northern Shaanxi. Taking the soil around the mining-induced ground fissures with widths of 0−10, 10−20, 20−30 cm (within 80 cm in horizontal distance and shallower than 20 cm in vertical depth) in the typical mining-induced ground fissure development area in the north wing of Ningtiaota mine field in northern Shaanxi as the research object, the soil infiltration rate, cumulative infiltration, saturated hydraulic conductivity (
Ks), organic matter, mechanical composition and > 0.25 mm water-stable aggregates were measured by constant head method and instrument analysis method, respectively. The influence of mining-induced ground fissures on soil infiltration characteristics was revealed. Based on the RUSLE2 model calculation, the soil erosion effect on the small spatial scale of mining-induced ground fissures considering infiltration characteristics is clarified. The results showed that: ① The infiltration rate of soil around the mining-induced fissures exhibits a dynamic variation process over time, characterized by three stages: transient (0−3 min), gradual (3−60 min), and stable (60−110 min). ② The effect of mining-induced ground fissure development on soil
Ks is the most significant, with an average increase of 60.63%. This effect increases with the increase of mining-induced ground fissure width and the decrease of horizontal distance from ground fissure. ③ Soil cumulative infiltration and
Ks were significantly positively correlated with very fine sand (
p < 0.01), but significantly negatively correlated with clay and organic matter (
p < 0.01), and significantly negatively correlated with > 0.25 mm water-stable aggregates (
p < 0.05). ④ The variation range of erodibility
K-value calculated by considering infiltration characteristics is 1.12−2.13 times larger than that without considering infiltration characteristics. Based on the exponential function, the prediction model of the influence range of mining-induced ground fissures with different widths on the infiltration rate and erodibility
K-value of the surrounding soil was constructed. It was found that when the horizontal distance from the mining-induced ground fissures exceeded 226 cm and 157 cm, respectively, the effect of mining-induced ground fissures on increasing the infiltration rate and erodibility of the surrounding soil basically disappeared. It can be used as a precise prevention and control target area for soil erosion in the loess mining-induced ground fissure development area in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.