The material that sits above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and ecology that lies above a coal seam or ore body, is known as overburden (also known as waste or spoil) in mining. During surface mining, overburden is removed, but it is rarely polluted with harmful materials.
All soil and accessory material above the bedrock horizon in a specific location is referred to as overburden.
For example, overburden refers to the soil and other material that sits above a geologic structure, such as a buried astrobleme, or an unexcavated archaeological site.
In particle physics, an underground laboratory's overburden may be necessary to protect the facility from cosmic radiation that could interfere with experiments.
In arboriculture, the term also refers to the soil that covers the roots of a wild-collected tree.