Upper Silesian Geophysical Observation System – A unit of the EPOS project

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the structure and research potential of the newly created measurement and information system for observing dynamic phenomena occurring in the Earth's crust in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in Poland as a result of mining activities. The structure of the system is similar to the one developed for monitoring the movements of the European tectonic plate under the European Plate Observation System (EPOS) programme. The measurement part of the system consists of stationary devices and sensors working in monitoring mode, installed in various locations of the USCB, both on the surface and underground, as well as data sets from periodically performed measurements using land, air and satellite techniques. The IT part of the system will create a local data centre with specialized and dedicated processing and modelling software in which all measurement data will be archived and processed to a form which enables the analysis of the short and long-term impact of mining operations on the environment. As one of the elements of the system will be observations of the short and long-term gravity and morphology changes, the collected data will enable research in the field of the geodynamics of mining areas to be conducted. Keywords: Coal basin, Mining, Geodynamics, Geophysics, Monitoring systems