Wpływ eksploatacji węgla kamiennego na ukształtowanie powierzchni wybranych fragmentów miasta Ruda Śląska w latach 1975-2011

Abstract

The article describes geomorphological results of intensive exploitation of hard coal and urbanization on the area of Ruda Slaska (Silesian Upland, Poland). The analysis covered the period of 36 years (1975–2011) and focused on two artificially delimited areas of research of 2,6 km2 and 5,9 km2. Two underground coal mines being the properties of Kompania Węglowa S.A. lead the exploitation in that area. The basic source materials were the archival and current topographical maps at a scale of 1 : 10 000 and 1 : 5 000. Hypsographic curves and hypsometric profiles were used to appropriately depict achieved results, additionally, colorful compositions illustrating height relations were prepared. The analysis result is, among other things, the average value by which the height of the area decreased – it is 2,7 m for the area A (with the annual average speed of ground settlement of 7,5 cm/year) and 6 m for the area B (with the annual average speed of ground settlement of 16,6 cm/year). However, the area inventory that was carried out confirmed the occurrence of, e.g., sinkhole areas, cones, escarpments, morphological edges and mining waste dumping grounds.