Search Results (7)

Scientific and rational monitoring of eco-environmental effects induced by mining activities is a prerequisite for optimizing mining planning and contributes to the advancement of ecological civilization. Remote sensing and multi-source data provide advanced methods for long-term dynamic evaluation of mining-induced eco-environmental effects. This study systematically constructs eco-environmental effect indicators tailored to mining characteristics and establishes quantitative extraction methods based on Landsat data and spectral indices. The Mine Eco-environmental Effect Index (MEEI) was developed using kernel principal component analysis (KPCA). The Heidaigou Open-pit Coal Mine in Jungar Banner was selected as the study area to validate the MEEI’s performance and analyze ecological dynamics across five key temporal phases. Results indicate the following: (1) the KPCA-based MEEI effectively integrates multi-indicator features, offering an objective representation of comprehensive eco-environmental impacts; (2) from 1990 to 2020, the ecological trajectory of the coal mine followed a pattern of “sharp deterioration → gradual slowdown → relative stabilization”, with post-mining restoration and management measures significantly mitigating negative impacts and improving regional ecological quality. This study provides a methodological framework for dynamic evaluation of mining-related eco-environmental effects, supporting sustainable mining practices and ecological governance. Full article

As the world’s largest open-pit coal producer, China faces severe dust pollution in mining operations. Cabins of mining equipment (electric shovels, haul trucks, drills) exhibit unique micro-environmental contamination due to dual-source pollution (external infiltration and internal secondary dust generation), posing severe health risks to miners. This study focused on electric shovel cabins at the Heidaigou open-pit coal mine to address cabin dust pollution. Through analysis of dust physicochemical properties, a pollution characteristic database was established. Field measurements and statistical methods revealed temporal–spatial variation patterns of dust concentrations, quantifying occupational exposure risks and providing theoretical foundations for dust control. A novel gradient-pressurized air purification system was developed for harsh mining conditions. Key findings include the following. (1) Both coal-shovel and rock-shovel operators were exposed to Level I (mild hazard level), with rock-shovel operators approaching Level II (moderate hazard level). (2) The system reduced respirable dust concentrations from 0.313 mg/m³ to 0.208 mg/m³ (≥33.34% improvement) in coal-shovel cabins and from 0.625 mg/m³ to 0.421 mg/m³ (≥32.64% improvement) in rock-shovel cabins. These findings offer vital guidance for optimizing cabin design, improving dust control, and developing scientific management strategies, thereby effectively protecting miners’ health and ensuring operational safety. Full article

Coal mining and ecological restoration activities significantly affect land surfaces, particularly vegetation. Long-term quantitative analyses of vegetation disturbance and restoration are crucial for effective mining management and ecological environmental supervision. In this study, using the Google Earth Engine and all available Landsat images from 1987 to 2020, we employed the Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery (LandTrendr) algorithm and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the year, intensity, duration, and pattern of vegetation disturbance and restoration in the Heidaigou and Haerwusu open-pit coal mines (H-HOCMs) in the Jungar Coalfield of China. Our findings indicate that the overall accuracy for extractions of disturbance and restoration events in the H-HOCMs area is 83% and 84.5%, respectively, with kappa coefficients of 0.82 for both. Mining in Heidaigou has continued since its beginning in the 1990s, advancing toward the south and then eastward directions, and mining in the Haerwusu has advanced from west to east since 2010. The disturbance magnitude of the vegetation greenness in the mining area is relatively low, with a duration of about 4–5 years, and the restoration magnitude and duration vary considerably. The trajectory types show that vegetation restoration (R, 44%) occupies the largest area, followed by disturbance (D, 31%), restoration–disturbance (RD, 16%), disturbance–restoration (DR, 8%), restoration–disturbance–restoration (RDR), and no change (NC). The LandTrendr algorithm effectively detected changes in vegetation disturbance and restoration in H-HOCMs. Vegetation disturbance and restoration occurred in the study area, with a cumulative disturbance-to-restoration ratio of 61.79% since 1988. Significant restoration occurred primarily in the external dumps and continued ecological recovery occurred in the surrounding area. Full article

Open-pit mining activities inevitably affect the surrounding ecological environment. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the disturbance characteristics of open-pit mining activities on the surrounding vegetation and scientifically implement ecological restoration projects. This study investigates the impact of open-pit coal mining in arid and semi-arid regions on surrounding vegetation from a vegetation phenology perspective. Initially, we construct a high-frequency time series of vegetation indices by Harmonized Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance dataset (HLS). These time series are then fitted using the Double Logistic and Asymmetric Gaussian methods. Subsequently, we quantify three pivotal phenological phases: Start of Season (SOS), End of Season (EOS), and Length of Season (LOS) from the fitted time series. Finally, utilizing mine boundaries as spatial units, we create a buffer zone of 100 m increments to statistically analyze changes in phenological phases. The results reveal an exponential variation in vegetation phenological metrics with increasing distance from the mining areas of Heidaigou-Haerwusu (HDG-HEWS), Mengxiang (MX), and Xingda (XD) in northwest China. Then, we propose a method to identify the disturbance range. HDG-HEWS, MX, and XD mining areas exhibit disturbance ranges of 1485.39 m, 1571.47 m, and 671.92 m for SOS, and 816.72 m, 824.73 m, and 468.92 m for EOS, respectively. Mineral dust is one of the primary factors for the difference in the disturbance range. The HDG-HEWS mining area exhibits the most significant disruption to vegetation phenological metrics, resulting in a delay of 6.4 ± 3.4 days in SOS, an advancement of 4.3 ± 3.9 days in the EOS, and a shortening of 6.7 ± 3.5 days in the LOS. Furthermore, the overlapping disturbance zones of the two mining areas exacerbate the impact on phenological metrics, with disturbance intensities for SOS, EOS, and LOS being 1.38, 1.20, and 1.33 times those caused by a single mining area. These research results are expected to provide a reference for the formulation of dust suppression measures and ecological restoration plans for open-pit mining areas. Full article

The coal shed is an enclosed space where raw coal is stored and handled. The intensive operation of the machinery inside the coal shed generates a large amount of dust, and the wind speed inside the enclosed space easily leads to a high concentration of dust, which endangers the physical and mental health of the workers. In this paper, we first studied the particle size distribution of dust samples in the coal shed and found that 12.2% of the dust in the air of the coal shed was 10–100 μm, 87.8% was less than 10 μm, and 72.9% was less than 2.5 μm. Fluent was used to simulate the law of dust dispersion in the coal shed under different working conditions, and finally, the simulation results were used to guide the design of the ventilation site and dust-reduction scenario. The experimental and simulation results show that under the same working conditions, the average dust reduction efficiency of the ventilation method in which the north side and south side pump air outside was 9.9%. The ventilation method in which the north side blows inside and the south side pumps outside was 23.7%. The average dust reduction efficiency of the ventilation method in which the north side blows inside and the south side pumps outside + placing the fan in the middle was 59.9%. The research results can provide some reference value for indoor air quality improvement. Full article

This paper investigates the impact of land use/cover type changes in the Haideigou open-pit coal mine on the evolution of the landscape patterns and ecological and environmental quality in the mine area, based on medium- and high-resolution remote sensing images in 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 using ArcGIS 10.5, Fragstats 4.2, and the Google Earth Engine platform. The results show that: (1) From 2006 to 2021, the area of cropland and waste dumps in the Heidaigou mining area changed significantly, the land use shifted in a single direction, and the overall land use change was unbalanced. (2) Through the analysis of landscape indicators, it was shown that the diversity of the landscape patches in the study area increased, connectivity decreased, and the patches became more fragmented. (3) Based on the changes in the mean value of the RSEI over the past 15 years, the ecological environment quality of the mining area deteriorated first and then improved. The quality of the ecological environment in the mining area was significantly affected by human activities. This study provides an important basis for achieving the sustainability and stability of ecological environmental development in mining areas. Full article

Traditional two-dimensional radar images can only reflect the target azimuth and slant range and thus suffer problems of geometric deformation and overlapping. The unique three-dimensional (3D) imaging capability of ground-based real-aperture radar can more accurately and directly achieve correlation between the radar image and the slope monitoring scenarios, thus providing reliable information for the early warning and forecasting of landslides and collapse disasters. The latest method of selecting a slope target from a high-resolution range profile includes two indexes: maximum amplitude and coherence, which will affect the accuracy of displacement measurement when there is an interference target. We present a three-dimensional slope imaging method based on smoothness constraints. On the basis of the latest method, the objective fact of the practically smooth and continuous distribution of slope surfaces is considered. This method can be used for image interpretation on strongly scattered targets within the slope. The independently developed ground-based real-aperture slope radar system was deployed in the Heidaigou Open-Pit Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia to carry out 3D slope imaging experiments. The effectiveness of this method in slope monitoring and imaging was confirmed by comparing the surface roughness and the spatial positions of the targets with the high-density point cloud data in the projective plane obtained during the same time period. We used RMSE function and roughness as two measures. It shows that the method presented in this paper is more suitable for actual three-dimensional slope imaging. Full article