Early detection of rockburst risk areas is a prerequisite for ensuring safe production in coal mines. A reliable and efficient detection method is essential for identifying stress distribution and disturbances in coal and rock masses during mining. In this study, we employed seismic traveltime tomography to study the three-dimensional velocity structure of the continuously mining and excavating area of a coal mine by inverting a number of P-wave arrival times from the induced micro-earthquakes (M < 2.0). The response characteristics and stress evolution of inversion areas at different mining stages were investigated by examining the obtained time-lapse velocity structure. The microseismic (MS) dataset was partitioned into two-lapse subsets in a temporal sequence, with each subset containing 367 relocated events. A series of checkerboard and restoring resolution tests, as well as field investigations, confirmed the resolution, robustness, and reliability of the tomographic results. In addition, absolute velocity change patterns were proposed to assess and predict rockburst risk areas caused by mining activities. The results showed that high-velocity zones could be attributed to roof subsidence, stress transfer after coal and rock mass rupture, and areas with special geological conditions in isolated working face situations. The coupled effect of stress evolution and geological conditions may lead to more pronounced stress concentrations during the mining process. Induced events can occur not only in areas between high and low stress but also near the isoline edges of pattern changes. Our established velocity patterns have significant potential for predicting hazardous areas, with a timeliness of up to 10 days.
