Geophysical Prospecting: Special Issue on Geophysics for Mining, Mine Safety, and Post-Mining Subsurface Characterization

With the continuous growth in global demand for mineral resources, the importance of sustainable and safe mining practices as well as environmental protection has become increasingly prominent. Modern mining operations not only require the application of efficient and reliable geophysical methods for resource exploration but also rely heavily on these methods for assessing mine hazards, protecting the environment, and ensuring safety throughout the entire lifecycle of underground mining spaces. Therefore, geophysical exploration methods for subsurface characterization and environmental protection are facing both new opportunities and challenges.

In recent years, geophysical data acquisition systems, signal processing and imaging techniques, as well as inversion and monitoring technologies have advanced rapidly, significantly enhancing the capability of characterizing complex subsurface geological structures. Meanwhile, emerging applications such as underground engineering, mine safety, and post-mining site remediation urgently require more precise, efficient, and reliable integrated geophysical solutions to address increasingly complex geological conditions and engineering challenges.

Geophysical Prospecting aims to compile the latest research advancements in geophysical methods for characterising surface and subsurface geological environments during the pre-mining, mining, and post-mining phases, with a focus on mining safety. The Special Issue welcomes original research papers, technical development papers, methodological studies, review articles and representative engineering case studies to collectively advance the development and application of geophysical exploration technologies in the mining field.

Topics of interest

• Geophysical exploration for mineral resources including seismic, electromagnetic, electrical, magnetic, gravity, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) methods for mining applications;
• Rock physics;
• Geophysical monitoring for mine safety and underground hazards;
• Time-lapse and continuous geophysical monitoring;
• Geophysical imaging and inversion for complex geological structures;
• Seismic signal processing and interpretation techniques for geophysical mining;
• Fusion of multiple methods to integrate geophysical data from various physical fields;
• Geophysical Techniques for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment;
• New geophysical instruments and sensing technologies for mining and underground engineering applications;
• A field engineering case study on innovative geophysical applications in mining and underground engineering.

Submission Guidelines/Instructions

Contributions to this Special Issue are welcome until 1 January 2027.

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the journal’s Author Guidelines. When submitting manuscripts, make sure to select the Special Issue title from the drop-down list in response to the question “Is this submission for a special issue?”.

To ensure timely processing, authors are requested to clearly state in the cover letter that the manuscript is submitted to this specific Special Issue and notify the Special Issue Editor Prof. Xiaoqin Cui (cuixq65@hotmail.com) and the GP editorial team (gpeditorial@wiley.com) via email with the subject line “Geophysics for Mining, Mine Safety, and Post-Mining Subsurface Characterization”.

Guest Editors:

• Prof. Xiaoqin Cui (China University of Mining and Technology–Beijing, China)
• Prof. Suping Peng (China University of Mining and Technology–Beijing, China)
• Prof. Xianlei Xu (China University of Mining and Technology–Beijing, China)
• Prof. Yongxu Lu (China University of Mining and Technology–Beijing, China)
• Dr. Tijmen Jan Moser (Moser Geophysical Services, The Netherlands)