Land stability in the influence areas of lignite open pits

This book represents an aggregated material that brings together the research conducted by the authors over the last 6 years in the Berbe¿ti lignite-mining basin. The work was focused on geotechnical aspects related to open pit mining (land stability), both during the active period and post closure, and the impact and the risk generated by such negative geomining events on the environment, humans and economic activities. The book starts from a brief description of the area in which Berbe¿ti mining basin is located and continues with the description of the mining area. The 2nd chapter describes the main factors that influence the stability of the land, while the 3rd makes an inventory of the past landslides that affected the studied area. The 4th chapter is dedicated to the description of the geomorphologic changes induced by open pit mining. Chapter 5 describes the field and laboratory investigations undertaken, investigations necessary in the next chapter, 6, that deals with the stability analyses. In chapter 7, based on a methodology developed by the authors, the environmental risks generated by land instability are assessed, and the last chapters summarizes the research effort.