Abstract:The burst potential of coal-bearing formation is the inherent attribution and necessary condition to induce a rockburst. There are many factors that can influence the burst potential of rock masses,but the rock composition and texture are the intrinsic factors to control its burst potential. Based on the microstructure of rock masses,the stress condition,the strength characters,and the deformation-fracture process of rock masses are discussed,which are used to establish the relationship model between the microstructure and macro-mechanical property of rock masses. The mechanism of energy accumulation and dissipation of rock masses during loading is analyzed to establish the qualitative and quantitative relations between the composition and texture and the burst potential of rock masses of coal-bearing formation. From the experimental researches and theoretical analysis,it is shown that the burst potential of rock mass has an intimate relationship with its composition. With the increasing of the detritus content of rock masses(from mud shale,siltstone,to fine and medium sand),the compressive strength and elastic modulus of rock masses increase. The accumulated strain energy in rock masses during loading increases and the dissipated energy of plastic deformation decreases,which improves the possibility to induce the strain type rockburst. The texture characters of rock masses also have great influences on their burst potential,such as the grain diameter,agglutinate composition and type and so on. With the decrease of detritus grain diameter in rock masses,the contents of large grain mineral (quartz and feldspar) of rock masses decrease and the contents of fine grain flake mineral (mica,chlorite and smeciite) increase. Once being loaded by the concentrated stress,rock masses will dissipate more permanent deformation energy during the plastic deformation and accumulate less elastic strain energy during elastic deformation. The possibility of rock masses brittle failure becomes less;and the burst potential of rock masses decreases. Moreover,the rock masses with siliceous cements have higher strength than those with ferruginous,calcareous,and argillaceous cements. From the agglutination types of rock masses,rock masses with contact-agglutination are stronger than those with pore-agglutination and foundation-agglutination.