This Research Topic is Volume II of a series. The previous volume can be found here: Coal and Rock Dynamic Disasters: Advances of Physical and Numerical Simulation in Monitoring, Early Warning, and Prevention With the soaring growth of global population and socioeconomy, energy consumption and demand has been rapidly rising, and coal would still remain a fundamental energy source for a long time into the future. Seeking deep coal resources becomes an inevitable trend due to the depletion of shallow coal resources. Deep mining of coal resources promotes socioeconomic development, whereas bringing a variety of security challenges. In deep underground, there is a significant risk increase in coal and rock dynamic disasters (CRDDs), owing to the changes in physical and mechanical properties of coal and rock. In this regard, it is of great importance and necessity to prevent and control CRDDs effectively and efficiently.

With the soaring growth of global population and socioeconomy, energy consumption and demand has been rapidly rising, and coal would still remain a fundamental energy source for a long time into the future. Seeking deep coal resources becomes an inevitable trend due to the depletion of shallow coal resources. Deep mining of coal resources promotes socioeconomic development, whereas bringing a variety of security challenges. In deep underground, there is a significant risk increase in coal and rock dynamic disasters (CRDDs), owing to the changes in physical and mechanical properties of coal and rock. In this regard, it is of great importance and necessity to prevent and control CRDDs effectively and efficiently. As typical natural geological materials, coal and rock have evident inhomogeneity and anisotropy, and manifest differences in strength, deformation, permeability, and other mechanical characteristics due to their various mineral compositions, porosity, and weak structural plane. Considering the complexity of coal and rock, it is essential to carry out laboratory experiments on macroscopic mechanical responses and microscopic fracture characteristics to identify precursor information and reveal evolution mechanisms of dynamic disasters. Yet by far less is known about the combined physical and numerical simulation on multi-scale CRDDs, which hinders the development of corresponding prevention and control technologies. This Research Topic aims to initiate a global scientific and technological discussion on the cutting-edge advances of physical and numerical simulation in monitoring, early warning, and prevention of CRDDs. We welcome Original Research and Review articles addressing the following themes that include, but are not limited to: • Physical and numerical simulation on mechanisms of CRDDs • Numerical simulation on prediction of CRDDs • Numerical simulation on prevention and control of CRDDs collapse

2017 has been an exciting year for our innovative open access journal Frontiers in Earth Science: many new articles have been published and are now indexed in Web of Science (ESCI), new sections have opened for submissions (including Solid Earth Geophysics), and our Editorial Board has been successfully leading the peer review process and providing comprehensive reviews to our authors. Have a look at our archive to read about the feeding habits of dinosaurs, human influence on in the African humid period, volcanic hazard models, or how glaciers flowing into the ocean surrounding Greenland have changed over time! Launched at the end of 2013, our Journal consists of several specialties whose number has increased with time and currently stands at 19, also including a few specialties co-listed in other fields (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science#). The present selection is not exhaustive as new ones are being launched and/or are under consideration for development. This growth has been paralleled by a yearly increase in the number of contributions and the Editorial Board members, reflecting the health of the Journal. Now also indexed in Web of Science - Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Frontiers in Earth Science is ambitious to become the leading open access journal in its field. The idea of creating an Editor's Choice eBook has been in our minds for a while as we wanted to create an environment for the Chief Editors to highlight their choice of representative papers in the Journal - we are happy to present now our first edition. The eBook offers a quick, though representative, window into the different specialties, giving additional visibility to some of the most interesting studies published in 2016 and 2017. It provides a glimpse into the state of the art of Earth Science on the cusp of 2020. Earth Science studies the different spheres of the Earth (geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and, partly, biosphere) and, as such, it provides a holistic perspective of our planet. This discipline, in addition to understanding our environment, enables us to face major natural challenges, such as improving the management of natural resources, promoting environmental sustainability and forecasting and managing natural hazards (Acocella, 2015, and references therein). On this basis, the contributions grouped in this eBook, even though appearing distinct in subject, methods, goal and impact, should be considered as different aspects of the same system. Indeed, the selection of these contributions aims to capture a multidisciplinary and common understanding of our planet, with its interconnected processes and challenges. It is important to note that, in many cases, it has not been easy to select a representative study per specialty, and thus the papers included in this eBook should therefore not be considered as the representative ones, but rather as a concise selection of key papers. We hope you enjoy reading our first edition of the Editor's Choice eBook! Jessica (Journal Manager), and Valerio (Field Chief Editor).