Abstract: The development of weathered and oxidized zones in coal seams seriously affects the mining of shallow coal seams. Aiming at the economical and efficient detection of weathered and oxidized zones in shallow coal seams, taking the detection of the weathered and oxidized zone of shallow-buried No. 6 coal in the Ningdong Mining Area as an example, this paper analyzes the feasibility of detecting coal seam weathered and oxidized zones by using the noise autocorrelation method, and proposes a delineation method for weathered and oxidized zones based on the subarray-assumed noise autocorrelation technique. The research results show that the superposition of cross-correlation functions within subarrays can significantly suppress strong surface wave interference in passive seismic records and enhance the body wave reflection signals of target strata. The reflected waves of No.6 coal reconstructed from passive noise signals are highly consistent with the geological structures and the lower boundary of the weathered and oxidized zone of No.6 coal in the study area, and the scope of the weathered and oxidized zone can be delineated according to waveform variations. Compared with seismic profiles in low-frequency and high-frequency bands, the waveform difference caused by the weathered and oxidized zone is the most significant in the medium-frequency band (10-40 Hz). The lower boundary of the weathered and oxidized zone in the study area is distributed between the coal seam contour lines of 1 240 m and 1 260 m, being shallower in the east and deeper in the west, which is consistent with the exposure data of two boreholes in the study area. The Yuanyanghu-Fengjigou anticline exerts a remarkable influence on the development of the weathered and oxidized zone, and the boundary of the weathered and oxidized zone in the anticline core is near the 1 250 m contour line. Compared with the geological inference results, the measured weathered and oxidized zone is approximately 100 m shallower on the west side and 30-50 m deeper on the east side, with a minimum distance of about 160 m from the southern boundary of the work area. The noise autocorrelation method based on the subarray assumption can economically and efficiently detect weathered and oxidized zones in shallow-buried coal seams, and is suitable for wide popularization and application.