Surface hydraulic fracturing is a new technology for preventing rockburst in deep mines with hard and thickness roofs in the Nei Monggol and Shanxi mining area. Determining the target rock layer for surface fracturing is a key issue for the success of this technology. Based on the positional relationship between the hard and thick roof strata and the caving zone in the working face, two types of bearing structures are proposed, and corresponding bearing mechanical models for the hard-thick roof are set up.The calculation methods for the fractured step distance,roof fracturing energy and its transmission of the hard and thick roof are given. Further the mechanical failure criterion of rock burst in coal roadway caused by roof fracture is provided. Combined with practices of surface hydraulic fracturing for rockburst prevention in the Binchang and Dahaize mining area and so on, the method of identifying target rock layer for surface hydraulic fracturing is proposed based on the fracturability of the target rock layer, the disaster potential of energy transfer, and the position of the rock layer. The method was adopted to obtain the target stratum for the surface fracturing and ground pressure relief at the 401102 working face of Mengcun Coal Mine. The results showed that: The target stratum for surface fracturing at the 401102 working face of Mengcun Coal Mine are the coarse sandstone layers at 65.95 m and 99.31 m away from the coal seam, respectively. The target stratum of the 401102 working face were fractured by the surface fracturing wells. The periodic fractured step distance, ground pressure duration, ground pressure intensity, total microseismic frequency and total released energy in the working face and coal roadway in hydraulic fracturing area all are significantly reduced, and the surface fracturing has good effect. The method for determining the target stratum proposed in this paper is reasonable, and the paper provides calculation method to determine the target rock layer for surface fracturing.