Ecological Risk Zoning Control in Zhundong Economic Development Zone Based on Landscape Pattern Changes

Abstract

The Zhundong coalfield in Xinjiang, China, is rich in resources and has great significance to the development of the Xinjiang region, but its local ecological environment is fragile and its climate is particularly dry, so mining is very likely to introduce a series of ecological risks; there is an urgent need for us to provide scientific and feasible guidance for the conservation and development of coal resources in this region. Therefore, this paper is based on the land-use-type data concerning the Zhundong Economic and Technological Development Zone from 2000 to 2020, exploring the land use change characteristics in the Zhundong area during these 20 years and calculating the ecological risk index of each risky district according to an ecological risk index model. Afterward, this article uses kriging interpolation to carry out a risk classification analysis to explore changes in ecological risk in the Zhundong area during the last 20 years and to put forward ecological risk partition and control measures for areas of different levels of risk. Our research shows the following features: (1) The land use type in the Zhundong area changed obviously from 2000 to 2020, in which unused land has always occupied most of the area of the Zhundong coalfield. Grassland was the land use type with the greatest area transferred, 211,412.35 hm2, accounting for 68.11% of the total transferred area, and it was mainly converted into unused and construction land. (2) In the last 20 years, the Zhundong coalfield has been dominated by higher-risk and high-risk areas, with obvious changes in the distribution of ecological risk levels. The low-risk, medium-risk, and higher-risk areas in the research zone have decreased and then increased; the lower-risk area has declined yearly, and the high-risk area has increased and then declined. Furthermore, overall, the ecological environment has transformed toward good condition. (3) High-risk and higher-risk areas still account for most of the research zone, and there is an urgent need for scientific and feasible programs to carry out ecological restoration in areas with different ecological risk levels to avoid further deterioration of the local environment.