Quantifying the impacts of opencast mining on vegetation dynamics over eastern India using the long-term Landsat-series satellite dataset
Quantifying the impacts of opencast mining on vegetation dynamics over eastern India using the long-term Landsat-series satellite dataset
Enhanced spatio-temporal and up-to-date information on vegetation dynamics at various spatial scales are imperative in understanding the human, biosphere, and atmosphere interactions. Thus, the present study attempts to derive the vegetation greenness trends with the medium spatial resolution (30 m) satellite data at the regional scale with the support of Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform. The long-term Landsat series satellite dataset was employed to characterize vegetation greenness trends using the Mann-Kendall test over the mining-dominated regions of Eastern India (Jharkhand and Odisha states) for two study periods, viz. earlier (1988–2004) and later (2000−2020). The key findings revealed that ∼1285 km
2 (2.97%) and 1688 km
2 (3.91%) areas over Jharkhand state and ∼ 5213 km
2 (5.68%) and 2940 km
2 (3.20%) areas over Odisha state showed the negative vegetation greenness trend (indicative of decreasing vegetation activity) during 1988–2004 and 2000–2020, respectively. It was observed that the major anthropogenic activities, particularly opencast mining, are the major factor for vegetation degradation in Jharkhand and Odisha states, contributing to ∼3–5.7% vegetation degradation during the study periods. The negative vegetation greenness trend patches were mainly observed in mining sites, settlement encroachments, construction sites, roadways, logging sites, etc. The drastic rise in the intensity of mining activities in the last two decades (2000–2020) has led to massive vegetation destruction compared to the earlier period (1988–2004). Furthermore, the key climatic parameters (i.e., precipitation, temperature, downward radiation, and soil moisture) have less control over the long-term vegetation greenness trends in the mining-dominated regions (∼ 27%) in contrast to forest regions (∼ 47%). The findings of the study shall be helpful to the policy-makers, stakeholders, environmentalists, and government bodies to formulate and implement various sustainable development programs in the mining-dominated regions to ensure ecological conservation and enhance ecological services.
Landsat, Mann–Kendall test, Mining activity, NDVI, Vegetation degradation
Ranjan, Avinash Kumar
6fe28711-022d-418a-885f-091a2391e33b
Parida, Bikash Ranjan
21c6f8e7-5d6c-4d46-86e3-4e7160b4d1b5
Dash, Jadunandan
51468afb-3d56-4d3a-aace-736b63e9fac8
Gorai, Amit Kumar
4a98fbf8-bfcc-45ef-aab0-70408cc06e3e
15 September 2022
Ranjan, Avinash Kumar
6fe28711-022d-418a-885f-091a2391e33b
Parida, Bikash Ranjan
21c6f8e7-5d6c-4d46-86e3-4e7160b4d1b5
Dash, Jadunandan
51468afb-3d56-4d3a-aace-736b63e9fac8
Gorai, Amit Kumar
4a98fbf8-bfcc-45ef-aab0-70408cc06e3e
Ranjan, Avinash Kumar, Parida, Bikash Ranjan, Dash, Jadunandan and Gorai, Amit Kumar
(2022)
Quantifying the impacts of opencast mining on vegetation dynamics over eastern India using the long-term Landsat-series satellite dataset.
Ecological Informatics, 71, [101812].
(doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101812).
Abstract
Enhanced spatio-temporal and up-to-date information on vegetation dynamics at various spatial scales are imperative in understanding the human, biosphere, and atmosphere interactions. Thus, the present study attempts to derive the vegetation greenness trends with the medium spatial resolution (30 m) satellite data at the regional scale with the support of Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform. The long-term Landsat series satellite dataset was employed to characterize vegetation greenness trends using the Mann-Kendall test over the mining-dominated regions of Eastern India (Jharkhand and Odisha states) for two study periods, viz. earlier (1988–2004) and later (2000−2020). The key findings revealed that ∼1285 km
2 (2.97%) and 1688 km
2 (3.91%) areas over Jharkhand state and ∼ 5213 km
2 (5.68%) and 2940 km
2 (3.20%) areas over Odisha state showed the negative vegetation greenness trend (indicative of decreasing vegetation activity) during 1988–2004 and 2000–2020, respectively. It was observed that the major anthropogenic activities, particularly opencast mining, are the major factor for vegetation degradation in Jharkhand and Odisha states, contributing to ∼3–5.7% vegetation degradation during the study periods. The negative vegetation greenness trend patches were mainly observed in mining sites, settlement encroachments, construction sites, roadways, logging sites, etc. The drastic rise in the intensity of mining activities in the last two decades (2000–2020) has led to massive vegetation destruction compared to the earlier period (1988–2004). Furthermore, the key climatic parameters (i.e., precipitation, temperature, downward radiation, and soil moisture) have less control over the long-term vegetation greenness trends in the mining-dominated regions (∼ 27%) in contrast to forest regions (∼ 47%). The findings of the study shall be helpful to the policy-makers, stakeholders, environmentalists, and government bodies to formulate and implement various sustainable development programs in the mining-dominated regions to ensure ecological conservation and enhance ecological services.
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Manuscript_AKR_Time series_corrected_2
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 6 September 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 September 2022
Published date: 15 September 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The present research was carried out in the Department of Mining Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Odisha (India). The authors sincerely acknowledge the UGGS earth explorer and TerraClimate for providing Landsat and climate datasets. The Google Earth Engine and Climate Engine platforms are sincerely acknowledged for providing cloud-based computing facilities. The authors are also highly thankful to the anonymous reviewers and editors for providing valuable suggestions that helped us to improve the quality of the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:
Landsat, Mann–Kendall test, Mining activity, NDVI, Vegetation degradation
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 471525
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471525
ISSN: 1574-9541
PURE UUID: b33d296a-eea2-408d-b6ec-6519728e2a2c
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Date deposited: 10 Nov 2022 17:32
Last modified: 12 Sep 2024 04:01
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Contributors
Author:
Avinash Kumar Ranjan
Author:
Bikash Ranjan Parida
Author:
Amit Kumar Gorai
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