Abstract:
The ecological restoration project in mining areas aims to rehabilitate the environment damaged by mining activities. Vegetation restoration and land reclamation are pivotal measures in this process, exhibiting significant synergistic and complementary effects throughout ecological recovery. To explore the relationship between vegetation conditions and soil quality outcomes during the implementation of ecological restoration in coal mines in Northern Shaanxi, this paper conducts a case study on 141 vegetation restoration and land reclamation projects in the first mining area of Sandaogou Coal Mine. By comparing and analyzing changes in vegetation and soil quality under various restoration measures, it uses correlation analysis to assess the effectiveness of these interventions. The results indicate that: ① during the ecological restoration period, areas with improved vegetation are primarily concentrated in vegetation restoration project areas, with significantly improved regions accounting for 12.39% of the total project area; in contrast, severely degraded areas only accounted for 0.12%. Among all project types, vegetation restoration areas exhibited the highest overall vegetation cover and the least fluctuation. ② Soil quality indices are consistently higher in areas restored to forest or grassland compared to those in cultivated land, with areas converted to arable land through reclamation having the lowest soil quality index (0.279). ③ Soil quality has a significant effect on vegetation status(
p<0.01). A strong positive correlation is found between vegetation trends and soil quality indices across all types of ecological restoration projects, with land reclamation areas typically showing correlation coefficients exceeding 0.4. The combination of vegetation restoration with land reclamation measures can significantly improve the ecological condition of mine area. Furthermore, the later vegetation management is of great significance to the effectiveness of ecological restoration. The results could identify the effectiveness of the implementation of ecological restoration in the Sandougou coal mine and provide theoretical support for the promotion and optimisation of ecological restoration measures in coal mines.