Abstract: To deeply investigate the synergistic failure mode and stress distribution law of overlying strata induced by mining in shallow coal seams, and further reveal the evolution mechanism of mining-induced stress field and dynamic propagation of fractures for the green mining and surface ecological protection in ecologically fragile areas of Northwest China, this paper takes Sandaogou Coal Mine in Shenfu Mining Area as the engineering background. Triaxial compression tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) microscopic characterization, elastoplastic theoretical modeling and FLAC^3D numerical simulation are comprehensively adopted to establish a linear confining pressure-strength hardening model. Based on mechanical response tests of typical sandstone under various confining pressure gradients, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of overlying strata stress field and fracture field during mining are analyzed, and the synergistic failure mechanism dominated by coupled tensile-shear stress is clarified. The results show that the peak axial stress increases by an average of 4.2% per 1 MPa increment of confining pressure. Type Ⅳ dense sandstone presents an ultra-high uniaxial compressive strength of 106.7 MPa under zero confining pressure, which is 23.6% higher than the average value of specimens in the same group. The mining-affected overlying strata fail in a coupled tensile-shear fracture pattern. During initial mining, the maximum principal stress concentrates around the open-off cut, and fractures initiate from the goaf and expand obliquely in an inverted splay shape, eventually forming the classic “three-zone” structure consisting of caving zone, fractured zone and bending subsidence zone. The deviation of vertical stress distribution between laboratory tests and numerical simulation is less than 2.8%, which verifies the reliability of the proposed constitutive model.