Underground mining can produce subsidence phenomena, especially if orebodies are surficial or occur in soft rocks. In some countries, illegal mining is a big problem for environmental, social and economic reasons. However, when unauthorized excavation is conducted underground, it is even more dangerous because it can produce unexpected surficial collapses in areas not adequately monitored. For this reason, it is important to find quick and economic techniques able to give information about the spatial and temporal development of uncontrolled underground activities in order to improve the risk management. In this work, the differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) technique, implemented in the SUBSOFT software, has been used to study terrain deformation related to illegal artisanal mining in Ecuador. The study area is located in Zaruma (southeast of El Oro province), a remarkable site for Ecuadorian cultural heritage where, at the beginning of the 2017, a local school collapsed, due to sinkhole phenomena that occurred around the historical center. The school, named “Inmaculada Fe y Alegria”, was located in an area where mining activity was forbidden. For this study, the surface deformations that occurred in the Zaruma area from 2015 to 2019 were detected by using the Sentinel-1 data derived from the Europe Space Agency of the Copernicus Program. Deformations of the order of five centimeters were revealed both in correspondence of known exploitation tunnels, but also in areas where the presence of tunnels had not been verified. In conclusion, this study allowed to detect land surface movements related to underground mining activity, confirming that the DInSAR technique can be applied for monitoring mining-related subsidence.

中文翻译：

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监测与祖鲁玛市（厄瓜多尔）金矿手工开采有关的地表变形

地下采矿会产生沉陷现象，尤其是当矿体表面存在或发生在软岩中时。在某些国家，出于环境，社会和经济原因，非法采矿是一个大问题。但是，如果在地下进行未经授权的开挖，则更为危险，因为它可能在未进行充分监控的区域内产生意想不到的表面塌陷。因此，重要的是找到能够提供有关不受控制的地下活动的时空发展信息的快速经济的技术，以改善风险管理。在这项工作中，在SUBSOFT软件中实现的差分干涉合成孔径雷达（DInSAR）技术已用于研究与厄瓜多尔非法手工采矿有关的地形变形。研究区域位于Zaruma（厄瓜多尔省东南部），这是厄瓜多尔文化遗产的重要基地，2017年初，当地一所学校因历史中心周围发生的坑洞现象而倒塌。这所学校名为“ Inmaculada Fe y Alegria”，位于禁止采矿活动的地区。在这项研究中，使用哥白尼计划欧洲航天局提供的Sentinel-1数据检测了2015年至2019年Zaruma地区发生的表面变形。既有已知的开采隧道，也有尚未证实隧道存在的区域，揭示了大约5厘米的变形。总之，这项研究可以发现与地下采矿活动有关的地表运动，