Background After 70 years of innovation and development, China has successfully transformed from a follower into a leader in both high-resolution surface seismic coal exploration techniques and underground in-seam seismic exploration techniques for coal mines. Furthermore, it has achieved disruptive innovations in intelligent seismic-while-mining (SWM) and seismic-while-tunneling (SWT) techniques. These achievements have established China’s worldwide leading position in the overall development of seismic coal exploration techniques.

Advances In terms of high-resolution surface seismic coal exploration techniques, China has undergone four development stages: arduously catching up, striving to follow, keeping pace with continuously, and overtaking international counterparts with advanced techniques during 1955−1984, 1985−1998, 1999−2014, and 2015−2025, respectively. Consequently, three landmark technological achievements have been made. First, high-resolution 2D seismic techniques enable the identification of faults with throws ranging from 10 m to 15 m, extending seismic exploration from coal exploration to coal mine design and development. Second, high-resolution 3D seismic techniques enhance fault interpretation resolution from 10 m to 5 m, representing a technical upgrade from 2D to 3D seismic exploration. Third, high-density fully-digital 3D seismic techniques further improve the fault interpretation resolution from 5 m to 2‒3 m. Concurrently, the offset vector tile (OVT) technology allows for the interpretation of anisotropy in intensively fractured zones, marking a leap forward in seismic exploration from structural exploration to lithological exploration. In terms of underground in-seam seismic exploration techniques for coal mines, China has also achieved remarkable progress. Specifically, domestically produced nodal digital in-seam seismographs have been developed, facilitating in-seam seismic exploration under complex roadway conditions. The geophone-anchor bolt coupling method has been devised, reducing the number of boreholes by two-thirds and shortening the construction duration from 10‒15 days to 1‒2 days. A wide-azimuth holographic seam wave observation system has been proposed, significantly enhancing the detection accuracy of faults, collapse columns, and variations in coal thickness. Furthermore, the technical challenge of low resolution in reflected seam wave envelope imaging has been addressed, contributing to the development of high-precision diffraction migration imaging using reflected seam waves. The imaging technology has been granted independent intellectual property rights. Regarding intelligent SWM and SWT techniques, technical breakthroughs have been achieved in using shearers or tunnel boring machines as seismic sources. These efforts have innovated seismic mine exploration modes, transforming them from manual blasting to mining/tunneling excitation, from explosive sources to green seismic sources, from static to dynamic detection, and from structural detection to stress monitoring. These transitions provide core technical support for intelligent geological guarantee in coal mining.

Prospect  In the future, seismic coal exploration techniques are expected to extend from structural exploration into lithological exploration and from coal seam exploration into collaborative coal and coalbed methane exploration. Furthermore, these techniques will facilitate the transformation of geological guarantee from safe and efficient mining to intelligent and green mining, aiming to provide transparent geological guarantee throughout the entire lifecycle of coal mining.