The mine subsidence disaster discipline is the frontier crossing branch of science among geology, ecology, mining, rock soil mechanics, information science, management science and sociology.

The geological signal will be clear from industrial-scale mining, damming, deforestation and agriculture, as well as the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere and nitrates in the oceans.

Ian Plimer, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University and author of a recent book Heaven and Earth, has controversially questioned whether climate change is man made.