Research on the Mechanism of Multiple Key Strata Controlling Overburden Movement and Their Classification in Bedrock Gully | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Research on the Mechanism of Multiple Key Strata Controlling Overburden Movement and Their Classification in Bedrock Gully Zhe Ma, Jing Chai, Dingding Zhang, Jianfeng Yang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8835634/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In most cases, there is more than one key strata in the overburden of bedrock valley mining areas, and the integrity of these layers is compromised by terrain cutting. Dynamic formation pressure and extensive surface cracks often occur during coal mining, posing significant risks to the safety of mines. Therefore, Double key stratum conditions of the overburden in the BJG coal mine are taken as the background, physical similarity model experiments are established to analyse the deformation and fracture laws, bearing capacity, and overburden migration characteristics of different occurrence states of key stratums in the bedrock valley mining area. Furthermore, the mechanism of controlling overburden movement by multiple key strata, and a method for identifying and classifying multiple key strata, are studied in the bedrock valley terrain. The results indicate that: (1) When the key stratum sequence is missing, during the mountain mining stage, the key stratum breaks frequently and the break distance is small, and the overburden undergoes intense block rotation movement; During the extraction stage, the number of key stratum fractures decreases and the fracture distance increases, and the intensity of overburden movement weakens, resulting in layered fractures; (2) In gully terrain, the occurrence state of the key strata determines their bearing capacity and the intensity of slope movement due to mining; (3) In gully terrain, key strata with missing sequences cannot effectively transmit horizontal stress and are considered weak key strata, whereas those without missing sequences are strong key strata. This study provides reference and guarantees for mine design, safe and efficient mining under similar conditions. Physical sciences/Engineering Earth and environmental sciences/Natural hazards Earth and environmental sciences/Solid earth sciences Bedrock gully. Shallow buried coal seam. Key stratum. Overburden movement Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementarymaterial.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 05 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 26 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 17 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 17 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8835634","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":597662138,"identity":"79e140b6-1fc8-47dd-a349-574468deaf7d","order_by":0,"name":"Zhe Ma","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAs0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACg/sHH3/++eOwHBt7+wHitFgeOJAmzdhz2JiP50wCcVrsgVqYGdsOJ86TcDAgTovZwQawlvQ2CYYEhh8V24jQcpgh+fPHtsO5bdKNBxh7ztwmQssxhgRpRpAWmQMJQOuI0GJwBqIlnU0iwYBILTdYwFoSSNHCdgwYyGmGbcBAPkiUXwzuH24GRqWNvHx7+8EHPyqI0IICDpCofhSMglEwCkYBLgAAF4RFkMsCbswAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhe","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""},{"id":597662139,"identity":"56644b64-e83f-4612-9766-3693728558e6","order_by":1,"name":"Jing Chai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jing","middleName":"","lastName":"Chai","suffix":""},{"id":597662141,"identity":"49b75367-fecc-4843-b8f2-bda82da52a47","order_by":2,"name":"Dingding Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dingding","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":597662142,"identity":"e88426e7-15a3-4691-ad0f-29eb29c3ab3f","order_by":3,"name":"Jianfeng Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jianfeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-10 02:54:23","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8835634/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8835634/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48282-z","type":"published","date":"2026-04-13T15:58:34+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107351505,"identity":"5fd3e2de-d4e4-4624-a212-cde44339b680","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-20 16:11:15","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1883156,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8835634/v1_covered_a783ab7a-969e-4d96-86ec-834d074d6768.pdf"},{"id":103625804,"identity":"e374e151-3332-4a48-8e16-a948b61eebc4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-27 20:15:56","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":13322,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterial.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8835634/v1/c07bf5947bce9688b5393e65.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Research on the Mechanism of Multiple Key Strata Controlling Overburden Movement and Their Classification in Bedrock Gully","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"
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