Tracking What You Cannot See

There are more than 240,000 documented abandoned mines across the U.S., each one with unique hazards that can pose risks to surrounding communities, infrastructure, and the environment. One risk that's common to these mine sites is subsidence, where abandoned underground workings collapse, ultimately forming sinkholes at the surface. These events damage homes, roads, utilities, and other critical pieces of infrastructure with little to no warning. To fully identify the risks that these underground workings pose to the public can require reviewing and analyzing extensive quantities of historical data, and large-scale geotechnical or geophysical investigation programs.