f Comparative Gephysical and Mining Forensic Analysis in exploration of Building Damages in Area of Mine „Lipnica

Geophysical explorations enable determination of causes to damage or inflicted injuries, understanding of initiation mechanism of accident and proofing of hypothesis beyond reasonable doubt in court proceedings thus leading to material evidence that will either confirm or deny initial hypothesis. Mining operations in Lipnica underground mine were conducted for about 50 years and were stopped at the begging of the war in 1992. Main openings of the mine, as well as the former mining panels in roof coal seam, are located directly under the settlement Lipnica. After more than two decades of mine closure a number of court proceedings are still pending. It concerns claims for compensation of evident damages inflicted on houses. Conventional calculation methods of subsidence dynamics and time frame of consolidation process that were defined in planning of mining operations and previous forensic investigation were mainly stressing the fact that the giving time distance is to long to expect effects of mining operations. The paper gives overview of a comparative analysis of mining-geological conditions and geophysical explorations in the case of forensic investigation into damages inflicted of houses, including analysis of possibilities to apply geophysical forensics in investigation of underground mining operations impacts.