Weathering-caused alterations in coal mining waste geochemistry, petrography, and mineralogy occurring in the known time span of 1998–2018 in the temperate climate of Poland were investigated. A series of coal mining waste rocks representing two parts of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), differing in coalification stage, i.e., corresponding to sub-bituminous and bituminous coals, have been selected to find how the level of organic matter conditionates the weathering. Differences in organic matter content, petrographic composition, rock mineralogy and inorganic geochemistry were also taken into account. Whereas organic petrography, including vitrinite reflectance values, do not show significant weathering signs, apart from irregular cracks and, in very rare cases, paler in color oxidation rims, organic geochemistry has been affected due to low-temperature secondary processes, including increased oxygen index values, particularly in less mature coal mining wastes. Biomarker distribution has been changed to the largest extent, with partial removal of n-alkanes possibly due to biodegradation of organic matter and water-washing of lighter polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including alkyl naphthalenes. Organic matter of lower maturity in coal mining wastes from the USCB eastern part, as more reactive, showed a higher level of secondary transformations. Minerals formed during weathering due to time and storage on dumps were mainly oxidation products of iron sulphides: goethite and jarosite; however, most of the minerals have not been altered. Thus, despite physical changes in coal mining wastes, such as increased brittleness, decreasing fragment size and surface color change, there are only limited changes in inorganic chemistry and mineralogy. This indicates that low-temperature processes do not favour the inorganic elements release to the environment and points out that measures to prevent self-heating within the dumps are the most vital part of post-mining activity leading to the best scenario - slow low-temperature weathering of coal mining wastes.

对波兰温带气候下 1998 年至 2018 年已知时间段内发生的风化引起的煤矿废料地球化学、岩相学和矿物学变化进行了调查。选择代表上西里西亚煤盆地 (USCB) 两个部分的一系列煤矿废石，煤化阶段不同，即对应于次烟煤和烟煤，以研究有机质水平如何影响风化。 。还考虑了有机质含量、岩相成分、岩石矿物学和无机地球化学的差异。尽管有机岩相学，包括镜质体反射率值，除了不规则的裂缝以及在极少数情况下氧化边缘颜色较浅之外，没有显示出明显的风化迹象，但由于低温二次过程（包括氧指数增加），有机地球化学受到了影响值，特别是在不太成熟的煤矿废料中。生物标志物的分布发生了最大程度的改变，部分正构烷烃被去除，这可能是由于有机物的生物降解和较轻的多环芳烃（包括烷基萘）的水洗所致。 USCB东部煤矿废弃物中成熟度较低的有机质由于反应性更强，表现出较高水平的二次转化。由于时间和堆放场储存的原因，在风化过程中形成的矿物主要是硫化铁的氧化产物：针铁矿和黄钾铁矾；然而，大多数矿物质并未发生改变。因此，尽管煤矿废弃物发生了物理变化，例如脆性增加、碎片尺寸减小和表面颜色变化，但无机化学和矿物学方面的变化却很有限。 这表明低温过程不利于无机元素释放到环境中，并指出防止堆场内自热的措施是采矿后活动中最重要的部分，从而实现最佳方案——缓慢低温煤矿废弃物的风化。