Review
Damage and control of mining surface deformation: Research status, hot spots and trends
Yu Xiong, Dezhong Kong*, Gaofeng Song, Jinzhu Li, Zehong Qin
Deep Resources Engineering. 2025, 2(4): 100203. 
doi.org10.1016j.deepre.2025.100203.pdf
Abstract: In order to master the research status, hotspots and trends of mining surface deformation (MSD) in metal mines, exploring the green and sustainable development path of mines, 2241 articles in the Web of Science database in recent 30 years were visually analyzed with "metal mine" and "surface deformation" as search keywords. Draw the knowledge map of authors and hot keywords, and discuss the research progress and prospect of MSD based on the environmental impact. The results show that MSD research has experienced three stages: slow start, steady development and rapid development. MSD research involves the whole life cycle of mine mining damage source control, process monitoring and later restoration. MSD research keywords can be divided into five main clusters, among which subsidence prediction, backfilling mining, fracture failure, Geo-mechanical modeling and backfill materials are representative research hotspots. With the progress of the times, MSD research presents the evolution characteristics of iterative replacement, from shallow to deep, and subject integration. Furthermore, it puts forward three frontier research directions for the future: MSD intelligent early warning, mine intelligent backfilling-mining integration, mine ecological restoration and environmental governance throughout the whole life cycle.
Highlights:
• The theory and technology of MSD in the past 30 years were comprehensively reviewed.
• MSD research has gone through three development stages.
• Through five clusters, the research focus of MSD has been clarified.
• Critically put forward three frontier research directions of MSD.
Keywords: Metal mine; Mining damage; Surface deformation; Green mine; Sustainable development; Ecological environment; Bibliometrics
Cite: Xiong, Y.; Kong, D.Z.; Song, G.F.; Li, J.Z.; Qin, Z.H., Damage and control of mining surface deformation: Research status, hot spots and trends. Deep Resources Engineering 2025, 2 (4): 100203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.deepre.2025.100203
