COAL-WASTE DUMPS DATABASE OF UPPER SILESIAN COAL BASIN

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-03-4 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 23, 425-430 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/23/S11.052

ABSTRACT

The area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin is covered by many coal-waste dumps, which are the side effect of long-term coal mining on this territory. Unfortunately coal-waste dumps have negative influence on the landscape and they pose a threat to the environment and public health. The control of hazard is very difficult, because it is often underestimated by officials of local and regional administration. Many geoenvironmental databases are incomplete and the credibility of some of their sources is sometimes questionable. A complex database of existing coal-waste dumps in Upper Silesian Coal Basin was created as a result of comparison and verification of the data included in existing databases and their supplementation based on separate documentation. The database consists of a number of attributes, including name, location, ID, area, volume, type, source, condition and date of update. Additionally an information on the occurrence of each coal-waste dump in open access historical maps (from the period of 1883-2004) and orthophotomaps (1996-2015) is added. It allows to analyze the changes in morphometry of coal-waste dumps and their arising and disappearance over the years.

Keywords: coal-waste dumps, database, Upper Silesian Coal Basin