Arid Zone Research ›› 2024, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (11): 1921-1935.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2024.11.12

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of climate and mining activities on vegetation in open-pit mining in desertification grassland

WANG Shiwei1(), ZHANG Haobin1, GUO Wenbing2, MA Chao1,3,4()   

  1. 1. School of Surveying and Land Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, Henan, China
    2. School of Energy Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, Henan, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Spatio-Temporal Information and Ecological Restoration of Mines (MNR), Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, Henan, China
    4. Research Centre of Arable Land Protection and Urban-Rural High-Quality Development in Yellow River Basin, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, Henan, China
  • Received:2024-03-18 Revised:2024-06-25 Online:2024-11-15 Published:2024-11-29
  • Contact: MA Chao E-mail:212204020073@home.hpu.edu.cn;mac@hpu.edu.cn

Abstract:

In this study, we aimed to examine the vegetation damage and reclamation status of mining pits and waste dumps in open-pit mines and provide an ecological basis for diagnosing vegetation damage in mining areas and assessing natural and artificial vegetation restoration. Using Sentinel-2 data, we calculated non-red edge vegetation indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index) and red edge vegetation indices (Red Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (RENDVI), Modified Red Edge Simple Ratio, Chlorophyll Index red edge, and Transformed Chlorophyll Absorption in Reflectance Index) as indicators for evaluating ecological restoration. We employed regression analysis, trend analysis, and correlation analysis to assess the impacts of mining activities and climate change on the ecological environment of five open-pit mines (Wulanhada, Jingwei, Wujiata, Langwoqu, and Hongshengyuan) from 2018 to 2021. This approach enabled us to identify the spatial and temporal patterns of change in vegetation across mining pits, waste dumps, and buffer zones. The results revealed the following: (1) The Hongshengyuan open-pit mine had the most severe vegetation damage (k=-0.2996) but had the most effective manual restoration on its waste dump (k=0.1364). (2) A comparison of the 5 km buffer zones around the five open-pit mines indicated that the pixel-by-pixel RENDVI trends predominantly showed degradation, with over 50% of the areas exhibiting signs of decline. (3) In the desertified grassland area, temperature had a more significant impact on vegetation NDVI than temperature. Open-pit mining exacerbates the ecological degradation of desertified grassland vegetation, while artificial restoration of waste dumps is highly effective in improving the ecological conditions of regional vegetation

Key words: desertification grassland, Shendong mining area, open-pit mining, waste dump, vegetation index, ecological restoration