Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.17559/TV-20161201095758

Monitoring the ecological environment of open-pit coalfields in cold zone of Northeast China using Landsat time series images of 2000-2015

Wenbin Sun orcid.org/0000-0003-4488-8542 ; College of Geo-science and Surveying Engineering, University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), D11, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083 P. R. China
Hongdan Zhang ; College of Geo-science and Surveying Engineering, University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), D11, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083 P. R. China
Yungang Cao ; Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, The Western Park of the Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 611756, P. R. China
Xiaolei Zhang ; College of Geo-science and Surveying Engineering, University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), D11, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083 P. R. China
Xuefeng Ji ; College of Geo-science and Surveying Engineering, University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), D11, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083 P. R. China
Fashuai Li ; Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

Abstract

Evaluating the deterioration of ecological environment and vegetation of coalfields caused by China’s large-scale coal mining activities is important because of the fragile ecological environment and low temperature in cold and arid areas. This study takes the open coal pits of Haizhou, Gulianhe, and Huolinhe as examples and proposes a method for evaluating their ecological environment using Landsat time series images based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) variations of open-pit coalfields in cold and arid zones. The average NDVI value of the mining area each month was calculated using Landsat image data from 2000 to 2015. The vegetation cover area in the coalfields was extracted according to the NDVI threshold, and the scatter plots of the annual maximum NDVI and vegetation cover area were drawn. We fitted the variation trend line of maximum NDVI value and vegetation cover area to reduce the effect of meteorological factors on NDVI values. Results show that after the closure of open pit and reclamation of dump area, the NDVI of open-pit coalfields and vegetation cover area have been increasing rapidly over the last decade, and the ecological environment of these coalfields has obviously improved. The coal mining activities have led to the rapid decline of annual maximum NDVI and vegetation cover area of the coalfields in permafrost zones, and the ecological environment of coalfields continues to deteriorate. Although the quarterly average NDVI remains unchanged in non-permafrost mining coalfields under coal exploitation, the vegetation cover area in the coalfields decreases linearly, indicating that the ecological environment of the coalfields tends to deteriorate. From an ecological environment protection perspective, the results of this study provide a basis for decision making in constructing large-scale open pits in cold and arid zones.

Keywords

coalfield; ecological environment; Landsat data set; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI); time series

Hrčak ID:

174709

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/174709

Publication date:

10.2.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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