There are generally thick and complex weakly cemented rock layers in the overlying strata of the western region, which pose a huge hidden danger to the safe mining of coal in the area. Taking the deep mining of thick coal seams under the thick weakly cemented overburden of Shilawusu Coal Mine as the engineering background, a combination of theoretical analysis and finite element numerical simulation was used to study the special characteristics of rock strata and surface movement deformation, and to analyze the energy accumulation and evolution characteristics of the overlying rock during mining. The results show that when the width to depth ratio is less than 0.88, the Zhidan Group sandstone layer plays a key controlling role on the surface, and the rock layers in each layer have not yet broken, resulting in significantly smaller surface subsidence in the early stage of mining. When the width to depth ratio reaches 1.31, the key rock layers break and the surface subsidence increases sharply. As the area of the mining zone increases, the range and magnitude of energy accumulation in the overlying rock layers gradually increase. The seismic wave energy at the top plate position exhibits a "arch" and U-shaped distribution characteristics in the strike and dip directions, respectively. A design method for the width of the "filling collapse retention" working face based on composite bearing bodies has been derived, which has been verified to effectively reduce rock subsidence and seismic wave energy accumulation. The research results can provide some reference for the risk control and active prevention of mining earthquakes.