Long-Term Impact of Ground Deformation on Vegetation in an Underground Mining Area: Its Mechanism and Suggestions for Revegetation

Jiaxin Mi (), Huping Hou (), Zhifeng Jin, Xiaoyan Yang and Yifei Hua
Additional contact information
Jiaxin Mi: Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Huping Hou: Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Zhifeng Jin: Jiangsu Research Center of Land Resources, Nanjing 210017, China
Xiaoyan Yang: Key Laboratory of Land Consolidation, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100035, China
Yifei Hua: School of Public Policy and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: Ground deformation is one of the most common geological disasters arising in underground mining areas, and mining-induced environmental impacts have resulted in numerous concerns, especially the impacts on the surface vegetation. The evaluation of mining-induced impacts on vegetation is beneficial to revegetation in mining areas; however, the impacts of ground deformation have seldom been systematically evaluated and explained on long time scales despite the long-term existence of ground deformation in underground mining areas. To address this, in this study a vegetation-soil-climate (VSC) model was developed to evaluate the long-term impacts of ground deformation on vegetation, and to reveal its mechanism. The results revealed that the long-term impacts of ground deformation on vegetation result from the degradation of the vegetation and soil when ground deformation occurs, which thereby limits the growth and succession of plants after the ground deformation has occurred. The intensity of the long-term impacts is determined by the severity of the ground deformation, but the duration, climate factors, the substrate conditions of the vegetation and soil before the deformation, and the natural change coefficient of the vegetation and soil are also relevant. Furthermore, the characteristics of the long-term impacts on vegetation were analyzed, and a framework for implementing revegetation and suggestions for the supervision of revegetation in underground mining areas are presented based on the characteristics. The results of this study provide insights into the impacts of mining-induced ground deformation on vegetation on long time scales, considering the comprehensive interactions between the vegetation and other environmental factors, and provide theoretical support for revegetation in underground mining areas.

Keywords: ground deformation; long-term impacts; underground mining; revegetation; ecological restoration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/6/1231/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/6/1231/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:6:p:1231-:d:1171557

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().