Abstract: Coal and gas outburst takes place within very short moments. Therefore, it has catastrophe property, and it is very important to research outburst mechanism from the viewpoint of catastrophe theory. Firstly, several factors who influence distressed zone’s safety width were analysed in the text. Based on it, potential function of catastrophe in the process of outburst was educed by making use of cusp catastrophe model who belongs to catastrophe theory. The whole of process of outburst was analysed from the view of catastrophe theory. Finally, took the mine of Ma Jia Gou for example , and it’s regulations of outburst were explained by making use of catastrophe theory. Coal and gas outburst is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change, and we can analyse it with catastrophe theory completely.

Key words: Coal and gas outburst, Catastrophe theory, Distressed zone