Man-made Changes of the Relief Due to the Mining Activities within Husnicioara Open Pit (Mehedinţi County, Romania)

Abstract

Depending on the relief, the technological process for lignite extraction from Husnicioara open pit uses 2 or 3 excavation steps of the mine waste deposits that lie over the coal strata (I+IV); first, the mining waste is deposited in the outer spoil tip and then in the inner tip, followed by coal excavation on another step. So far, the mining activities have affected 3.5 sqkm, including part of the Lungă and Lacului Valleys, and Faţa Lacului and Pădurea Dumbrava hills. The area of the mining exploitation is an artificial space that functions according to new rules. Consequently, the study attempts to identify the man-made changes of the relief due to the mining activities using field measurements, Landsat satellite images and NDVI index. The results reveal that the lignite exploitation implies the dislocation, relocation and storage of materials, which has caused a significant change of the local geomorphological context, leading to the construction of some anthropic structures such as cavities and prominent relief forms.