Xuzhou is a city with frequent geological disasters in Jiangsu province, China. There are many types and wide distribution of geological disasters, including coal mining subsidence, karst ground collapse and soil consolidation settlement. It is of great significance to explore the surface subsidence disasters induced by adverse geological processes for urban development. Therefore, we firstly use 51-scene TerraSAR-X images and StaMPS technology to acquire surface deformation in Xuzhou from 2014 to 2018. The results show that the spatial heterogeneity of surface deformation (– 43 to 18 mm/year) is obvious. Then, the spatial-temporal evolution patterns of surface deformation are investigated by combining mining goaf, old Yellow River fault and geology along the metro. The main disaster-caused factors of surface subsidence are mining goaf, followed by the metro construction. Meanwhile, the subsidence trough in Gongnong Road metro station are analyzed based on Peck model, which shows that the maximum subsidence and width of subsidence trough are −36.8 mm and 310 m, respectively. The Yellow River fault zone is relatively stable because Xuzhou government controls the exploitation of karst groundwater. However, there are many intersections between the metro lines and old Yellow River fault, which may induce karst ground collapse. Therefore, periodic monitoring of surface deformation in Xuzhou is necessary to prevent hazards.