Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Impact of Mining on the Landscape

A Study of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in Poland

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Renata Dulias

    1. Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Provides a comprehensive investigation of the impact of mining in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, in Poland, an area ranked sixth worldwide in hard coal extraction (from the mid-18th century until 2009)
  • Presents a variety of maps that illustrate the transformation that has occurred in the area
  • Provides a comparison of the anthropogenic Upper Silesian Coal Basin landscape with other mining areas in Poland and Europe
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 1-30

  3. A Brief History of Mining in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 31-49

  4. Anthropogenic Landforms in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 51-82

  5. Changes in Morphometric Parameters of Terrain Caused by Mining

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 83-93

  6. Changes in the Circulation of Matter in Drainage Basins

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 95-127

  7. Changes in the Circulation of Matter in Landlocked Basins

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 129-137

  8. Anthropogenic Denudation Rate in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 139-160

  9. Anthropogenic Denudation Rate in Other Mining Areas

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 161-202

  10. Conclusions

    • Renata Dulias
    Pages 203-206

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 207-209
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book investigates the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), one of the oldest and largest mining areas not only in Poland but also in Europe. Using uniform research methods for the whole study area, it also provides a summary of the landscape transformations. Intensive extraction of hard coal, zinc and lead ores, stowing sands and rock resources have caused such extensive transformations of landscape that it can be considered a model anthropogenic relief.  The book has three main focuses: 1) Identifying anthropogenic forms of relief related to mining activity and presenting them from a spatial, genetic and age perspective; 2) Determining the changes in the morphometric characteristics of relief and the conditions for matter circulation in open systems (drainage basins) and closed systems (land-locked basins) caused by the extraction of mineral resources; and 3) Estimating the extent of anthropogenic denudation using two different methods based on raw-material output and morphometric analysis. In Poland, no other mining area has undergone such intensive mining activity as the Upper Silesian Coal Basin during the last half century. Its share in the total extraction of mineral resources was as high as 32%. The total extraction of hard coal in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin from the mid-18th century until 2009 was the sixth largest in the world, and the permanent, regional effects of mining anthropopressure on the relief are among the most severe in the world. The anthropogenic denudation rate in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, as well as the Ruhr Coal Basin (Ruhr District) and the Ostrava-Karvina Coal Basin, ranges from several dozen up to several hundred times higher than the rate of natural denudation, irrespective of the calculation method used. It would take the natural denudation processes tens of thousands of years to remove the same amount of material from the substratum as that removed through human mining activity.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

    Renata Dulias

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation