Remote sensing monitoring and analysis of space-time evolution of vegetation coverage in Lengshuijiang Tin Mining area

Keywords: Lengshuijiang Tin Mining area, Landsat satellite image, Normalized vegetation index (NDVI), Zonal statistics, Vegetation coverage
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Hunan antimony mine, known as the "Antimony Capital of the World", has caused severe environmental pollution after years of antimony mining. The pollution investigation in this area has also become a focus of the academic discussion. This study uses Landsat satellite images of many years, based on the pixel dichotomy model, to estimate the vegetation coverage through the normalized vegetation index (NDVI), and analyze the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of vegetation coverage in different polluted level areas through zoning statistics. The results show that the vegetation coverage decreases gradually with the increase of the level of pollution, that is, the vegetation coverage of heavily polluted areas < that of moderately polluted areas < that of lightly polluted areas < that of clean areas. In addition, in terms of time, the overall vegetation coverage from 2006 to 2010 was poor, especially in heavily polluted areas, which were most affected by mining pollution. During this period, the vegetation coverage showed a very low level. After 2010, with the implementation of the mine restoration project, the overall vegetation coverage in heavily polluted and moderately polluted areas gradually returned to the level of 1990. The conclusion of this paper can provide a reference for monitoring pollution status, the effectiveness of ecological environment restoration, land use, and future planning of the Lengshuijiang tin mining area and other similar mining areas.