Abstract: The residual coal pillar supporting roof in goaf leads to a large increase in the hanging area of thick and hard key layers.The structural instability of “coal pillar-key layer” is the main cause of mine earthquake and rock burst disasters.Based on the engineering background of the(4-5)06 earthquake-prone working face in Xinjiang Liuhuanggou Coal Mine, the spatial structure characteristics of overburden composed of “residual coal pillar and key layer in goaf” were studied by using the methods of theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, microseismic monitoring and field investigation.The stress evolution law of residual coal pillar and the mechanical structure characteristics of key layer in goaf were analyzed.The stress distribution estimation model of residual coal pillar in goaf under asymmetric overburden spatial structure and the limit span calculation mechanical model of inclined key layer were established.The occurrence mechanism of “coal pillar key layer” structure instability mine earthquake in a fully mechanized top coal caving face of inclined thick coal seam was revealed.The supporting roof of the residual coal pillar in the goaf forms a “coal pillar-key layer” structure.With the increase of the mining range of the working face, the stress concentration of the coal pillar continues to increase.When the concentrated stress of coal pillar exceeds its ultimate bearing capacity, the length of the key exposed layer exceeds its ultimate span, and the fracture instability occurs, which induces mine earthquake and rock burst disasters.Based on this, a criterion for the occurrence of “coal pillar-key layer” structural instability earthquake was established, which includes the overall instability rock burst tendency index of residual coal pillar and the limit span of key layer, and it was verified by numerical simulation and microseismic monitoring.According to the prevention and control principle of “earthquake without disaster”, the technical measures of “seismic mitigation-scour prevention” of the working face under the structure of “coal pillar-key layer” were proposed, and the relationship between the mining speed of the working face and the large energy microseismic events was analyzed.It was established that the reasonable mining speed to reduce the mine earthquake energy and frequency of the working face is not more than 3 m/d, which ensures the safe mining of the working face.