Raniganj coalfield is a major coal producing area, which has facing subsidence problems
due to underground coal mining. The occurrence of thick coal seams at shallow depth is
the main reason for the subsidence and as a result many coal mines have collapsed in the
recent years. In the present thesis, we have made efforts to predict the subsidence
occurring in the Indian coal fields in general and in particular to the Raniganj coal field
using visco-elastic model. We have made comparative study of the predicted and
observed subsidence profiles of Ratibati and Shivadanga coal mines of Raniganj coal field.
The results show a reasonable match of the predicted and observed subsidence. We have
also studied the effect of various geomining conditions on the subsidence.