Nabila Zahra, Pakhrur Razi
In the vicinity of the PT Semen Padang limestone mine, ongoing mining can undoubtedly harm the local geology, endangering safety and impeding sustainable growth and the local economy. Therefore, it is crucial to keep an eye on the area’s stability in order to guarantee operating safety and stop environmental deterioration. This study monitors ground displacement from November 2023 to September 2024 utilizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology and the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) approach. The InSAR technique is a perfect tool for evaluating stability in extremely sensitive areas since it allows for high-precision surface movement detection. This is demonstrated by its capacity to consistently identify monthly patterns of varying ground deformation at the limestone quarry in Semen Padang, including the detection of notable anomalies like a 23 cm increase in deformation in February. However, noise can compromise the accuracy of SAR radar, particularly in places with a lot of vegetation, like the forest surrounding the quarry. To increase accuracy, this noise necessitates meticulous data pre-processing. The cement factory’s reclamation efforts, continuous mining operations, and geological reasons are mostly to blame for the deformation that takes place. These results emphasize the necessity of ongoing observation in order to lower the hazards related to soil instability. The spatiotemporal patterns of ground deformation revealed by this study are crucial for creating stability management plans that work in limestone mining operations. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2026.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, 25131, Indonesia; Center of Deformation Monitoring and Earth Observation (DMEO), Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, 25131, Indonesia
