Ecological restoration effect and driving factors analysis of Lingquan Open-Pit Mine

Coal mining often leads to soil and vegetation damage, resulting in ecological damage. At present, the ecological restoration of open-pit mines in alpine regions is still in the initial stage, and there are few studies on the ecological restoration effect and its drving factors of open-pit mines in alpine regions. Taking Lingquan Open-Pit Mine as the research area, based on eleven Landsat images from 2009 to 2022, the vegetation coverage is calculated by using the dimidiate pixel model, the long-time dynamic monitoring of vegetation coverage before and after the ecological restoration of the mining area is carried out, and the ecological restoration effect and driving factors are analyzed. The research results show that the vegetation coverage in the mining area has increased in the past ten years, especially after the large-scale restoration in 2017. Temperature and precipitation are the key natural factors that lead to the fluctuating change of vegetation coverage in open-pit mines in alpine regions, and precipitation is the main natural factor that affects the continuous growth of vegetation coverage. The change of vegetation coverage and soil nutrient content complement each other. The increase of vegetation coverage will increase soil fertility, which in turn will promote the growth of vegetation coverage. Artificial restoration is the main way of ecological restoration in open-pit mines in alpine regions and the main reason for the increase of vegetation coverage in open-pit mines in alpine regions. The research results show that the ecological restoration has achieved remarkable results over the years, and can provide scientific basis for the ecological restoration of open-pit mines in alpine regions.