Research on the spatial and temporal pattern differentiation and functional synergy of the “production-living-ecological” in mega coal mining areas

The development of mineral resources has led to an imbalance of the production-living-ecological space in region, affecting the synergy and enhancement of ecosystem service functions and exacerbating the conflicts between energy security, food security and ecological security. It is of great significance to conduct a synergy study on “production-living-ecological” space to support the construction of green mines. This paper takes the Pingshuo large open-pit coal mine, a mega coal mining area, as the research area, with the land use data of 1990, 2005, 2012 and 2021. A prediction of the future land use distribution of the Pingshuo Mine Area in 2030 is screened based on the driving factors of Natural environment and socio-economic, using the Markov model and the PLUS model. Through comparative analysis and modification of model parameters, three scenarios of natural development, farmland protection, ecological protection are established for scenario analysis. The results of the study show that social factors, especially the factors such as roads and railways, are the main influences on land use changes from 1990 to 2021. The “production-living-ecological” function shows a partial increase but an overall decrease. The multi-scenario analysis shows that the ecological protection scenario is more suitable for this study area and characterized by a concentration of ecological space in the northern region, a major distribution of living space in the southwestern region, and a cross-distribution of productive space with other two spaces. The results of the study can provide scientific basis and decision-making reference for the appropriate distribution of land resources in the mining area, the optimization of the spatial pattern of mining-agriculture-urban area, the enhancement of regional spatial coordination capacity, and the mitigation of spatial conflicts among the “production-living-ecological” space in the mining areas.