An assessment of environmental impacts in mining areas of Paschim Bardhhaman district, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Mining is the most significant economic action in the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal, India. Simultaneously, it has an enormous figure of negative influences on the natural, environmental, ecological, and social environment. The land use and land cover (LULC) alteration, coal mining effect (open-cast) on the LULC, and the local environmental influences are deliberated. The Paschim Bardhhaman’s LULC area is examined for the period of 30 years i.e., since the year like 1991 to 2021. Furthermore, alteration examination and spatial–temporal dynamics of LULC quantification are also deliberated. Analysis discloses that the water body marginally increased from 0.64% in 1991 to 0.96% in 2021. Mining area increased from 0.00% (1991) to 8.97% (2021) respectively. Instead, vegetation has decreased from 40.17% (1991) to 31.20% (2021) continuously. Similarly, settlement increased from 5.02% to 13.77% in the year 1991 to 2021 respectively. Agricultural land progressively decreased from 44.47% (1991) to 39.73% (2021) respectively. Raniganj Coalfield area, Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), and Coal India Limited (CIL) are the triggers for open cast mining. Land surface temperature (LST) increased by 7.96 ˚C (summer) and 10.24 ˚C (winter) between 30 years. The LST, LULC, and vegetation limitations are substantial factors in the universally changing climate investigations. Thermal infrared remote sensing demonstrated its competence for observing temperature and moving micro-climate in urban regions. The outcomes indicate that the outside temperature influences self-heating surfaces (hotspots) regions. The examination likewise shows that the outside temperature influences the self-heating surfaces (hotspots) regions.