Landslide is the downslope movement of a mass of rock, soil, and organic materials under the direct influence of gravity. Slope movement starts when the forces acting on the downslope exceed the mechanical resistance of the slope. An increase of the downslope force and reduction or loss of the strength of earth materials that compose the slope may trigger landslides. Natural factors initiating landslides in slopes include the type of bedrock, slope steepness, rainfall, snowmelt, soil moisture, stream erosion, changes in groundwater, earthquakes, and volcanic eruption. In addition to natural phenomena, landslides can also be triggered and aggravated by human activities such as underground coal mining. Landslides are a worldwide serious geological hazard widely found in areas of hilly or mountainous terrain, causing great damage to properties in urban areas and thousands of death tolls per year, mainly from rockfalls or debris flows.

Underground mining operations generally disturb the natural balance of the ground stress and cause significant surface subsidence. In the area of karstic environments, the underground mining operation can increase the natural tendency for a landslide to occur by greatly accelerating the ground crack development and altering the slope form and groundwater conditions. The regular collapses of massive and strong strata above the coal seam dominate the development of the ground movement. However, the configuration of the roof strata in the karstic environment is generally a slope and presents different mechanisms of ground movement during coal development. A poorly planned coal extraction under hillslope environments exerts significant reverse impacts on slope stability. The underground mining influence on landslide susceptibility has always been challenging. The interaction between human activities and natural factors controlling landslide occurrence further increases landslide risk and exacerbates the hazards to the ground structures. It is possible and important to limit the human activity-initiated landslide occurrence and reduce the landslide susceptibility by early consideration of these effects.

This Special Issue aims to address the underlying mechanism of landslide due to the underground coal development under hillslope environments. We welcome both original research and review articles that examine recent advanced techniques and engineering approaches for the monitoring and prediction of slope movement and assessment of landslide hazards. Submissions about slope reinforcement using geotechnical tools and slope stabilization with vegetation are encouraged.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Mechanism of a shallow landslide caused by underground coal mining
• Numerical and physical modelling of landslides in hillslope systems
• Landslide form characterization in hilly terrain with underground coal development
• Interaction of underground mining with natural factors contributing to landslide occurrence
• Development of roof failure during underground coal development at the slope strata configuration condition in hilly terrain
• Shield-strata interaction under the strong roof condition in hillslope systems
• Optimization of the longwall face design to minimize slope movement
• Monitoring techniques of slope movement and early warning of landslide
• Seismic characteristics of a strong roof to correlate roof failure with slope movement
• Erosion control and slope stabilization with vegetation management