Abstract: The extent and height of coal minigumduced overburden failure are significant basis for designing waterproofing coal/rock pillars of mining under water bodies and for the stability evalution of overburden above mining-out zone.Based on the theory of engineering geomechanics for rockmass,the failure mechanism and criteria of overburden are studied in this paper.Various factors such as engineering geological types and their composition,structure characteristics of rockmass,dip angle of strata,geological structure,ground stress and underground water,affecting on the height and regularities of developing overburden failure are analyzed in some detail.An engineering geological prediction method is presented and application cases are described.