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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The ecological environment in permafrost regions is very sensitive to climate change and human activities. The effects of coal mining on the vegetation in permafrost regions have been poorly studied. Herein, on the basis of a field survey in the Juhugen mining area of Qilian Mountain, China, we investigated and quantified the influence of open-pit coal mining on vegetation coverage degradation in permafrost areas. According to the NDVI and field survey, the vegetation coverage was divided into five levels from low to high in the Arc GIS platform. Compared with the area not affected by coal mining, vegetation degradation was significant in the coal-mining-affected area, especially in the high-vegetation-coverage area. The vegetation coverage in Level 5 decreased from 51.99% to 21.35%. According to the conversion matrix, the transfer-out area in high coverage was larger, while the transfer-in area in low vegetation coverage was larger. The transfer-out area of five levels was significant in levels 2–5, accounting for 36.1% to 62.8% of the total area. The transfer-in area of five levels was significant in levels 1–4, accounting for 55.2% to 75.0% of the total area. Moreover, the ground surface temperature and water change were monitored in the vegetation degradation area. The results showed that the above degradation was related to an increase in the ground surface temperature and a decrease in the ground surface moisture.

Details

Title
Analysis of Vegetation Coverage Evolution and Degradation under Coal Mine Construction in Permafrost Region
Author
Wang, Shengting 1 ; Xu, Tianni 2 ; Yu, Sheng 3 ; Wang, Yiming 2 ; Jia, Shuming 4 ; Huang, Long 4 

 Lanzhou Institute of Technology, Lanzhou 730000, China; State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China 
 Chengdu Vocational & Technical College of Industry, Chengdu 610000, China 
 State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China 
 Lanzhou Institute of Technology, Lanzhou 730000, China 
First page
2035
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734433
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2756664545
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.