Impacts of coal mining subsidence on the surface landscape in Longkou city, Shandong Province of China

Abstract

Coal mining subsidence is a common human geological disaster that was particularly conspicuous in China. It seriously restricts the sustainable development of mining areas, and it not only damages land resources but also triggers a series of ecological and environmental problems that may result in social and economic issues. This report studied the coal mining subsidence area of Longkou in Shandong province and uses digital elevation data (DEM) of the mining area before subsidence in 1978 as the baseline elevation. Through image algorithms, we obtained coal mining subsidence region data for 1984, 1996, 2000, and 2004. And with spatial data sources of the same period of TM/ETM+ and SPOT5 remote sensing images, BP artificial neural network (BPNN) classification is used to extract surface landscape information in the subsidence area. With the support of GIS technology, superimposing subsidence area on the surface landscape—using the largest landscape ecology patch index, landscape shape index, landscape condensation index, and the index of landscape distribution—report analyzes the mining landscape changes before and after subsidence. This study also carries on exploratory research with the landscape changes, thereby providing a scientific basis for integrated prevention and treatment.