Ecological Environment In Mining Areas Research Articles

Progress of Ecological Environment Research in Mining Areas based on Remote Sensing Technology

Significant progress has been made in the application of remote sensing technology in the study of ecological environment in mining areas. Using technologies such as hyperspectral remote sensing, multispectral remote sensing, low-altitude remote sensing by unmanned aerial vehicles and the construction of monitoring indicator systems, it has been widely applied to mine development and land use, monitoring of vegetation cover in mines, monitoring of the geological and hydrological environment in mines and monitoring of environmental pollution in mines. In the future, with the continuous emergence of new technologies and the optimization of remote sensing technology, the application of remote sensing technology in the monitoring and protection of mining ecological environment will be more extensive and in-depth, which can provide stronger support for mining ecological environment protection and sustainable development.

Spatioemporal dynamics and driving forces of soil organic carbon changes in an arid coal mining area of China investigated based on remote sensing techniques

Soil organic carbon (SOC) undergoes rapid changes due to human production activities, which have an impact on the land carbon cycle and ultimately global change. As one of the main human production activities, coal mining significantly impacts the soil carbon cycle. However, due to the lack of remote sensing modeling of soil carbon in mining areas, the spatio-temporal changes and driving mechanisms of SOC in mining areas remain unclear. Therefore, this study investigated and determined SOC data from 300 sampling points (depth of 0–20 cm) located in an arid mining area of China. Remote sensing images were then used to established a soil organic carbon density (SOCD) prediction model within the Random Forest (RF) model to achieve digital mapping of soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS). The spatiotemporal changes of SOCS were analyzed using SOCS digital mapping, and the influencing mechanism of SOCS was revealed using path analysis. The results showed that the constructed SOCD predictive model meets the demand for SOCD prediction (R2 ≥ 0.74, p < 0.01, RMSE ≤ 1.72 kg/m2). Under the combined influence of coal mining and land reclamation, the total amount of surface SOCS in the mining area exhibited a fluctuating upward trend from 1990 (6.34 Tg) to 2021 (7.73 Tg), with an annual growth rate of 0.038 Tg/a. The spatial distribution of SOCS generally increased from southeast to northwest. Precipitation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and land use were positively correlated to SOCS spatial distribution, while temperature, elevation, soil erosion, and mining intensity were negatively correlated to SOCS. The impact degree of factors on SOCS was as follows: NDVI > soil erosion > mining intensity > precipitation > elevation > land use > temperature. The negative impact of coal mining on SOCS was mainly indirect, through disturbance to elevation, vegetation, and soil erosion. The uneven ground subsidence and stretching caused by coal mining contribute to intensified soil erosion and vegetation degradation in the affected area, leading to a reduction in SOCS. However, SOCS did not decrease under high intensity mining, which was related to the increase in vegetation and the reduction in soil erosion in the mining area. In this study, a soil carbon prediction model was established based on remote sensing modeling to evaluate the temporal and spatial distribution of soil carbon in an arid mining area. The results can serve as valuable references for the scientific improvement of the ecological environment in mining areas, the rational planning of mining area construction, as well as low-carbon land reclamation and ecological compensation assessments.

Responses of soil bacterial community structure to different artificially restored forests in open-pit coal mine dumps on the loess plateau, China.

Artificial vegetation restoration is an effective method for improving soil quality. In areas experiencing coal mine subsidence, the microbial community is essential for reconstructing the ecological balance of the soil. Studies are needed to examine how soil microbial community structure respond to different artificial forest restoration types and ages, especially over long-term periods. Therefore, in this study, 10, 20, and 30-year trials were chosen with two restoration types: Pinus tabuliformis (PT) and Ulmus pumila (UP). The objective was to determine how various types and ages of forest restoration affect the structure of soil bacterial communities, as well as the soil environmental factors driving these changes. The results showed that artificial 30-year restoration for both PT and UP can improve soil physical and chemical properties more than restoration after 10 and 20 years. The soil bacterial community structure remarkably differed among the different forest types and restoration ages. The bacterial diversity was higher in UP than in PT; the alpha diversity at longer restoration years (30 and 20) was significantly higher than at 10 years for both PT and UP. Moreover, soil nutrients and pH were the primary soil environmental factors driving bacterial community structure in the PT and UP. Finally, the integrated fertility index (IFI) at 30 years of restoration was considerably higher for PT and UP, and thus, is more beneficial to the restoration of soil after coal mining. Our findings are useful for studying improvement in soil quality and the restoration of the ecological environment in mining areas.

Using silkworm excrement to restore vegetation and soil ecology in heavily contaminated mining soils by multiple metal(loid)s: A recyclable sericulture measure

Ecological restoration of heavily contaminated soils by multiple metal(loid)s in mining areas is very difficult. In this study, we provided an attractive measure of using silkworm excrement (SE) and its modified materials to restore the soil heavily contaminated by arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr). We investigated the adsorption capacities and the associated remediation mechanisms for antimonite [Sb(III)] and antimonate [Sb(V)] by raw SE, biochar–modified SE (BC700), iron–modified BC700 (MBC) and sulfhydryl–modified BC700 (SH). Then, we selected SE and SH to compare their outcomes to restore the vegetations and the soil bacterial communities in the investigated soil mentioned above. The results showed that SE displayed the best characteristics for metal(loid) physical adsorption. But SH conferred the strongest capacity to adsorb Sb (max 23.92 mg g–1), suggesting the process of chemical adsorption played a key role in adsorbing Sb via functional groups (–SH). SE and SH both significantly (1) promoted the growth of pakchoi (Brassica campestris L., New Zealand No.2), community abundance of soil bacteria (283–936 OTUs), and the quantity of bacterial genera correlated with resistance, plant growth promotion and specified carbon metabolism; (2) but reduced bacterial genera correlated with pathogenicity. In this study, we suggested an attractive recyclable measure to restore the disturbed ecological environment in mining areas, i.e, using mulberry to restore the vegetation→ using leaves of mulberry to rear silkworms→ using SE to immobilize metal(loid)s in soils growing mulberry or other plants.

Environment monitoring of mining area with comprehensive mining ecological index (CMEI): a case study in Xilinhot of Inner Mongolia, China

ABSTRACT The monitoring and evaluation of environmental and ecological status in mining area is critical for effective mineral management guidance, and remote sensing is a cost-effective solution for covering a wide spatial area with high temporal frequency. However, the diverse landscape in mining areas presents a challenge for finding a suitable monitoring method. To address this challenge, this study proposes a remote sensing-based comprehensive mining ecological index (CMEI), which integrates vegetation greenness, soil wetness, urban heat, air quality and water quality indicators obtained from Landsat images and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products. The integration is achieved through a principal component analysis (PCA) to encapsulate various aspects of the environment in opencast mining areas. The proposed CMEI was then applied to assess the performance of an ecological restoration project carried out in the Xilinhot coalfield in Inner Mongolia, China, over the past two decades. Our findings show that the overall ecological environment in the dumping sites and backfilling sites of Xilinhot coalfield has improved from a score of 0.15 in 2005 to 0.33 in 2020, according to the CMEI. Nevertheless, our study also highlights that some newly established dumping sites require further strengthening of management and maintenance measures. The CMEI presents a novel and effective approach for monitoring and evaluating the ecological environment in mining areas, and it can potentially be applied to assess the ecological environment of opencast mining areas globally.

Effect of soil compaction on hydraulic properties and macropore structure: Evidence from opencast mines in the Loess Plateau of China

Affected by heavy machinery, the soil compaction in the opencast coal mine area is serious, which will change the characteristics of soil macropores, then affect the soil hydraulic properties and damage the ecological environment in mining area. In this study, the disturbed soil samples from the dumping area of Pingshuo opencast coal mine of China were collected. The soil samples were processed in bulk density from 1.30 g·cm−3 to 1.70 g·cm−3, and the soil hydraulic properties were measured, and the soil macropore characteristics were obtained using computerized tomography scanning in laboratory. The path analysis method was applied to analyze the effect of macropore characteristics caused by compaction on soil hydraulic properties. Soil compaction resulted in severe effects on soil hydraulic characteristics and macropore properties. Under same soil suction, the water contents remained in soil decreased with increasing compaction. The explanatory variables (average Euler number (AEN), macropore throat number (MTN), and macropore fractal dimension (MFD)) were main determinants of soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), and the indirect path coefficient of macroporosity. The effects of AEN and MFD on soil infiltration properties were relatively high. The bulk density of 1.4 g·cm−3 was a critical point of affecting macropore properties then affecting soil hydraulic properties, and some soil reclamation measures should be conducted to make bulk density < 1.4 g·cm−3 for compacted soil in opencast coal mining area. This study provides a basis for selecting technology of land reclamation and the subsequent monitoring and maintenance of soil quality in mining areas.

A Novel Mine-Specific Eco-Environment Index (MSEEI) for Mine Ecological Environment Monitoring Using Landsat Imagery

The excessive exploitation of mineral resources will lead to environmental pollution, resource depletion, environmental disaster, and other problems. The contradiction between the environment and development, and the management of the ecological environment in mining areas are urgent p-problems to be solved. An ecological environment assessment is an important part of the ecological environment in a mining area. The accurate evaluation of the ecological environment is the premise behind environmental governance in a mining area. However, current ecological assessment indicators were not developed specifically for mine environment monitoring and, thus, cannot provide an effective and comprehensive assessment of the mineral environment. To this end, in order to improve the environmental monitoring performance in mining areas, a novel Mine-Specific Eco-Environment Index (MSEEI) was proposed, integrating factors from five main aspects associated with minerals, including temperature, vegetation, soil moisture, atmospheric environment, and mining scale. Meanwhile, a widely concerned mine—Luanchuan mine—was used as the case area to test the performance of our MSEEI. The results showed a significant correlation between RSEI and MSEEI (p &lt; 0.01). The mean correlation achieved between RSEI and MSEEI was 0.91, which was much higher than the correlations between RSEI and enhanced vegetation index (EVI), soil moisture monitoring index (SMMI), normalized difference built-up and soil index (NDBSI), PM2.5 concentration (DI), and heat (LST). In addition, based on our long-term MSEEI results of Luanchuan mine from 1997 to 2021, the ecological status of Luanchuan mine showed a trend of first declining and then rising. Specifically, the MSEEI first declined from 0.85 to 0.77 between 1997 and 2012, and then rebounded to about 0.8 in recent years. The MSEEI exhibited a good applicability in the ecological assessment of mining areas. Our MSEEI can provide useful guidance for mine environment monitoring. MSEEI can directly reflect the ecological damage after mining, provide scientific guidance for the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources, and promote the protection and sustainable development of Earth’s resources and mine ecological environments.

Response of plant element traits to soil arsenic stress and its implications for vegetation restoration in a post-mining area

The ecological environment in mining area is fragile, and the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content of dominant plants is closely related to plant nutrient limitation, community composition and ecosystem function. Clarifying the response of dominant plants to soil properties and the corresponding trade-off mechanism are essential for rebuilding the ecological resilience and self-sustaining ability of mining areas. In order to explore the response of dominant plant element traits to soil physico-chemical properties under the stress of soil arsenic (As) pollution, an abandoned metal mining area threatened by heavy soil As pollution was selected as the research area, the soil physico-chemical properties and soil As content in different speciation, and the contents of C, N and P in dominant plants were measured. The results showed that: (1) The soil As pollution was serious in the mining area, while the contents of soil nutrient were relatively low. (2) The soil As content in different speciation affected the absorption and utilization of P by plants. (3) The dominant plants responded to soil As toxicity by allocating more nutrients to leaves to reduce toxicity and ensure growth. This study helps to reveal the nutrient driving law of plant diversity processes and community succession in heavy metal-contaminated sites and is of great significance to restore the fragile ecosystems in mining areas.

Review on resource and environmental carrying capacity of mining areas in China

The excessive consumption of resources and the destruction of ecological environment in mining areas have severely restricted coal mining, and the research on resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) of mining areas is of great significance in reconciling coal mining and resource environmental protection. To review the existing research on the RECC of mining areas, the concepts of the RECC were elaborated, and then the development process and application areas of both resource carrying capacity (RCC) and environmental carrying capacity (ECC) were studied. The main methods and models involved in the RECC study were counted. The results showed that the research on the RECC of mining areas has not attracted sufficient attention, and the relevant literature is relatively few. The existing research on RECC in mining areas mainly adopts single-factor analysis, which makes it difficult to comprehensively evaluate the overall situation of RECC in mining areas. Thus, a comprehensive evaluation of the RECC of mining areas by scientific evaluation methods is required to ensure the coordinated development of coal production, resources and environment of mining areas. This review provides an important reference and guidance for the necessity and thinking of the comprehensive study of resources and environment carrying capacity in mining areas.

Research Progress of Land Reclamation in Mining Areas in China

The ecological environment of mining area is an important problem that affects the sustainable development of mining area and regional ecological security. The mining industry has promoted the global economic development, but also caused a series of ecological degradation. Ecological restoration of mining areas has become an urgent problem for all countries in the world. This paper expounds the research technology and development trend of ecological restoration in mining areas in China, and looks forward to the ecological restoration in mining areas in the future, which will provide reference for the ecological restoration of mining land reclamation in the future.

Surface Environmental Evolution Monitoring in Coal Mining Subsidence Area Based on Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data

The exploitation of mineral resources is crucial for cost-effective construction but has also led to severe damage to the ecological environment in mining areas. Therefore, it is particularly important to effectively monitor surface environmental problems in the mining subsidence area caused by the exploitation of mineral resources. Herein, the Huinong coal mining subsidence area, Shizuishan city, Ningxia, China, was taken as the study area. The remote sensing image features of various environmental elements were investigated through field investigations, the measured spectra, and image spectrum contrast analysis. On this basis, an object-oriented random forest classification method was used to classify images from different time phases and sources in coal mining subsidence areas. Next, the man–machine interactive interpretation was confirmed by referring to the pre-classification results. By overlaying the interpretation result map and analyzing the land-use class changes, the spatial–temporal evolution monitoring of the surface environment in the coal mining subsidence area from 1979 to 2018 was carried out. The results show that the surface environment in the coal mining subsidence area has undergone significant changes over the past 40 years, among which—from 1979 to 2003—the environment of the coal mining area was severely damaged by the intensive mining activities. The area of cultivated land and vegetation coverage decreased sharply, while the area of other land-use classes, such as coal heaps, water bodies, and coal gangue, exhibited a trend of rapid growth. From 2003 to 2018, after more than 10 years of mine geological environment renovation and management, the surface environment of the coal mining subsidence area greatly improved, among which the vegetation coverage has shown the fastest growth rate, while the area of coal gangue, badlands, and other land-use classes have significantly reduced. The hidden dangers of geological disasters have been drastically mitigated. In addition, the residential area continued to decrease in the early stages and then rebounded to a certain extent, indicating that urbanization was carried out at the same time as the ecological environment began to improve. The surface environment before and after the renovation is consistent with the results from remote sensing monitoring.

Quantitative remote sensing-based monitoring and evaluation of the ecological environment in mining areas: technology framework and application

Quantitative remote sensing-based monitoring and evaluation of the ecological environment in mining areas: technology framework and application

Vegetation restoration restricts rill development on dump slopes in coalfields

Severe rill erosion on dump slopes poses a great threat to the ecological environment in mining areas. Vegetation restoration is an effective measure for controlling soil erosion on dump slopes. However, few studies have identified the long-term influence of vegetation restoration on rill development on dump slopes. Therefore, we investigated the rill development characteristics of dump slopes with three typical restoration models (CK: natural restoration; ED: Elymus dahuricus; and AO: Artemisia ordosica) and three recovery time (1 y, 3 y and 5 y). The results showed that vegetation adequately controlled rill erosion on dump slopes. ED and AO could effectively control the development of rills with widths >15 cm and depths of 10–20 cm. ED vegetation restoration inhibited the development rill morphology and network better than AO. The rill erosion modulus of the ED slope and AO slope decreased by 76.29%–90.77% and 46.66%–61.49%, respectively, compared with that of natural restoration slopes with recovery time of 1 y, 3 y, and 5 y. ED controlled rill erosion better than AO, but this effect gradually weakened with recovery time. Vegetation coverage contributed 34.99% of the total variation in rill morphology and was the main factor affecting the development of rills on dump slopes. Furthermore, vegetation coverage had a more important role in controlling rill development than did the root system on dump slopes. This study provides valuable information for optimizing vegetation construction for soil loss control on dump slopes.

Evolution of Ecosystem Service Value and Ecological Storage Estimation in Huainan Coal Mining Area.

With the long-term mining activation and use of coal, ecological environment of mining area has been damaged to a certain extent. As one of the 13 large coal bases in China, Huainan coal mining area was selected to evaluate the ecosystem service value and ecological storage value. Remote sensing images of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 based on Landsat series in Huainan mining area were employed to obtain the classification information of the surface. Referring to the existing research results, ecological service value was computed. By using a mining area ecological storage model, estimation of ecological storage were studied. Results showed that ecological service value and ecological storage both showed a downward trend. Finally, the paper put forward the comprehensive treatment countermeasures and remediation strategy of ecological environment.

Analyzing the Ecological Environment of Mining Area by Using Moving Window Remote Sensing Ecological Index

Objectives Mine environmental problems are intensifying, and the environmental monitoring and evaluation of the mining area is an indispensable part of mine management. Previous researches have obtained effective results by evaluating the mining ecological environment through the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI). However, the calculation does not take into account that the environmental influence is regional under natural conditions of RSEI, and the geo-graphical location of the mining area has different effects on its surrounding ecological environment. The main purpose of this research is to propose a new remote sensing ecological index that is more in line with the ecological response mechanism based on the characteristics of the ecological environment of the mining area. Methods Aiming at the complex research area of large area feature type, this paper presents an improved ecological index named moving window-based remote sensing ecological index (MW-RSEI) which based on RSEI and moving window evaluation unit. MW-RSEI divides the ecological environment into four influencing factors: Greenness, wetness, dryness and heat. Each pixel in the study area is taken as the research object, and the extended window of the pixel is taken as the calculation range of each factor. The experiment assigns weight to the center pixel of each window through principal component analysis. Results The MW-RSEI and RSEI models were used to calculate in the study area, the results show that the mean value of MW-RSEI and RSEI in the study area were 0.522 and 0.459, the greenness and wetness had positive effect on the environment, and the dryness and heat had negative effects. Based on the MW-RSEI model, mine geomorphology destroys the regional ecological environment grade is worst and poor accounted for 85.40% of the overall area. MW-RSEI in line with the first law of geography. Its results are consistent with RSEI, and it shows more gradient information of the ecological environment around the mining area, which confirms the theory of dissipative structure in the ecological environment. Conclusions MW-RSEI refines the local characteristics of the ecological environment, and it can provide an effective basis for ecological environment monitoring and evaluation in mining areas.

Leaching Process of Weathered Crust Elution-Deposited Rare Earth Ore With Formate Salts.

To strengthen the rare earth leaching process and weaken the hydration of clay minerals for preventing landslides, it is of great importance to adopt a green and sustainable leaching agent in the industry. In this work, the leaching process of weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores with formate salts (ammonium formate, potassium formate, and sodium formate) was investigated. The effects of formate salts on the linear swelling ratio and zeta potential of the clay minerals were studied. The experimental results showed that ammonium formate could effectively recover the rare earth elements from weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth as well as inhibit the leaching of impurity aluminum. At room temperature, when the ammonium formate concentration was 1% wt, the leaching efficiencies of rare earth and aluminum were 87 and 37%, respectively. Compared with traditional inorganic ammonium salts, the inhibition effect of impurity aluminum was obvious. In addition, the results of the linear swelling ratio in the clay minerals showed that the inhibit ability of formate salts on the hydration of clay minerals enhanced with the increase of the formate concentration, and the order of the inhabitation on the clay minerals followed: 1% ammonium formate > 1.5% potassium formate > 2.5% sodium formate > distilled water. Based on the double layer theory, ammonium formate and potassium formate could effectively compress clay mineral particles to avoid water intake, which could increase the interaction between clay mineral particles and greatly reduce the electronegative property of the clay minerals, so as to effectively reduce the surface hydration of clay minerals to decrease the swelling of rare earth ore. The results of this experiment have important and practical significance in guiding the prevention of landslides, promoting the in-situ leaching technology, and effectively protecting the ecological environment in mining areas.

Ecological environment quality evaluation and evolution analysis of a rare earth mining area under different disturbance conditions.

The negative impacts of the overexploitation of resources on regional environments have become increasingly obvious. The contradiction between the environment and development and the management of the ecological environment in mining areas are urgent problems to be solved. This paper uses Landsat images from four temporal phases from 1991 to 2018 in the Lingbei mining area of Dingnan County, China, to construct a rare earth remote sensing-based ecological index (RE-RSEI) suitable for rare earth mining areas and to analyze the impacts of different rare earth mining methods, mining scales and environmental management measures on the mining area environment over the past 27years. The results show that since 1991, due to the mining techniques of "pond leaching" and "heap leaching" and the soil condition, mining has caused severe damage to the land and vegetation, and the ecological environment quality of the entire mining area has been seriously reduced with its RE-RSEI value dropping from 0.744 to 0.675. After 2010, through the optimization of mining technology and the government's attention to ecological environmental governance, the quality of the ecological environment was slowly restored, and the recovery effect at some mine sites was remarkable. The RE-RSEI model has good applicability to rare earth mining areas, can intuitively reflect the destruction and restoration of the ecological environment of rare earth mining areas under different mining modes, and provides scientific guidance for promoting the coordination of the development and utilization of rare earth resources and mine ecological environmental protection and sustainable development.

Progress in the Remote Sensing Monitoring of the Ecological Environment in Mining Areas.

Based on the results of an extensive literature research, we summarize the research progress of remote sensing monitoring in terms of identifying mining area boundaries and monitoring land use or land cover changes of mining areas. We also analyze the application of remote sensing in monitoring the biodiversity, landscape structure, vegetation change, soil environment, surface runoff conditions, and the atmospheric environment in mining areas and predict the prospects of remote sensing in monitoring the ecological environment in mining areas. Based on the results, the accurate classification of land use or land cover and the accurate extraction of environmental factors are the basis for remote sensing monitoring of the ecological environment in mining areas. In terms of the extraction of ecological factors, vegetation extraction is relatively advanced in contrast to the extraction of animal and microbial data. For the monitoring of environmental conditions of mining areas, sophisticated methods are available to identify pollution levels of vegetation and to accurately monitor soil quality. However, the methods for water and air pollution monitoring in mining areas still need to be improved. These limitations considerably impede the application of remote sensing monitoring in mining areas. The solving of these problems depends on the progress of multi-source remote sensing data and stereoscopic monitoring techniques.

Impacts of Large-Scale Open-Pit Coal Base on the Landscape Ecological Health of Semi-Arid Grasslands

Coal is an important energy resource in the world, especially in China. Extensive coal exploitation seriously damaged the grassland and its fragile ecosystem. However, temporal and spatial impact laws of open-pit coal exploitation on Landscape Ecological Health (LEH) of semi-arid grasslands are still not clear. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to study impact of Large-scale Open-pit Coal Base (LOCB) on the LEH of semi-arid grasslands from the perspectives of temporal and spatial. Taking Shengli LOCB of Xilinguole grassland in Inner Mongolia as an example, we demonstrate a conceptual model of LOCB impact on LEH of semi-arid grasslands, and establish a research system called landscape Index-pattern Evolution-Driving force-Spatial statistics (IEDS). A complete process integrated from investigation, monitoring, and evaluation to the analysis of impact laws was developed. Result indicated that coal mining causes gradual increase of landscape patches, landscape fragmentation, gradual decline of landscape connectivity, complexity and irregularity of landscape shape, enhancement of landscape heterogeneity and complexity, gradual decline of landscape stability, gradual decrease of grassland landscape and annual increase of unhealthy grassland landscape. The LEH of grassland basically belongs to the state of slight deterioration. In the past 15 years, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of LEH in the study area are similar. This study provides scientific reference for ecological disturbance research, environmental protection, landscape planning, restoration and renovation of ecological environment in mining areas. At the same time, future research should integrate geological, hydrological, soil, vegetation, microorganisms, animals, climate, and other perspectives to study the impact of mining on landscape ecology deeply.

Linguistic neutrosophic Hamacher aggregation operators and the application in evaluating land reclamation schemes for mines.

Land reclamation has become a significant way for the improvement of ecological environment in mining areas. When selecting the optimal land reclamation scheme, LNNs (linguistic neutrosophic numbers) are suitable to describe the complex fuzzy evaluation information through linguistic truth, indeterminacy and falsity membership degrees. Furthermore, the Hamacher aggregation operators are good tools to handle multi-criteria decision making problems. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to extend Hamacher aggregation operators with LNNs and then build a decision making framework for evaluating land reclamation schemes in mining areas. First, new operational laws of LNNs based on Hamacher t-norm and t-conorm are defined. Then, several linguistic neutrosophic Hamacher aggregation operators, including the linguistic neutrosophic Hamacher weighted mean aggregation operators and linguistic neutrosophic Hamacher hybrid weighted mean aggregation operators are developed. Meanwhile, their desirable properties are proved. Thereafter, a method for decision making with linguistic neutrosophic information based on these operators is proposed to deal with complex decision problems. At last, the validity of this method is confirmed by an illustrative example of evaluating the land reclamation schemes in mining areas. In addition, the impact of the parameter in extended Hamacher aggregation operators is discussed. The merits of the proposed method are also highlighted by comparing with other decision making methods. The results show that the proposed linguistic neutrosophic Hamacher aggregation operators have great flexibility and advantages, and can provide powerful ways for the evaluation of land reclamation schemes.