Impacts of Coal Mining on the Aboveground Vegetation and Soil Quality: A Case Study of Qinxin Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, China

Abstract

The exploitation and utilization of coal resources have been lasting for thousands of years, resulting in a series of ecological environmental problems in China. So far, the mining area has changed into severe and typical damaged ecosystem locally and globally. The coal exploitation history is long in Shanxi province, but goafs are distributed widely. In this study, we addressed this point and took a coal mine, located in Shanxi province where the coal mining has a long exploitation history with goaf densely distributed, as an example. The growth patterns of above ground plant communities, succession characteristics of vegetation community and soil quality characters in the goafs, which could provide theoretical basis for the sustainable development of coal resources and ecological reconstruction in this region, have been studied.

Is underground coal mining causing land degradation and significantly damaging ecosystems in semi‐arid areas? A study from an Ecological Capital perspective

“…Land use, biodiversity, and vegetation cover were impacted by numerous of these changes. High-intensity underground (shaft/pit mining) mining of coal resources leads to ground subsidence and causes geological disasters (Guo, Bai, Shangguan, Shao, & Wen, 2011;Fan et al, 2015). Some aquatic life in the many streams of the central Appalachian Mountains in the USA has been damaged due to open-cast coal mining (Pond, Passmore, Borsuk, Lou, & Rose, 2008).…”

Characterizing Khetri copper mine environment using geospatial tools

“…The study area is covered with scattered vegetation and it is difficult the vegetation covers from other classes. Mines are well known for adverse impacts on the vegetation cover [53,54]; hence, for the classification NDVI values were used.…”

Elemental composition of vegetables cultivated over coal-mining waste

“…Overall, the system of coal energy production involves coal-mining, mineral processing, coal burning, and subsequent energy generation, whereas the environmental challenges from coal exploitation include coal mine accidents (Bian et al 2010), land subsidence (Bian et al 2010, Sadhu et al 2012, damage to the water and terrestrial environment (Bian et al 2010, 2014, Sadhu et al 2012, Wang et al 2013), especially to the vegetation (Donggan et al 2011) and to soil structure (Ghose 1996, Dutta and Agrawal 2002, Banerjee et al 2004, Sadhu et al 2012, Wang et al 2013, mining waste disposal (Singh and Singh 2006, Bian et al 2010, Bhuiyan et al 2010, Wang et al 2013, air pollution (Querol et al 2008, Zhao et al 2008, León-Mejia et al 2011, and landscape changes (Bian et al 2010).…”