Surface mining activities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) have caused substantial ecological disturbances, posing significant challenges for assessing vegetation degradation and recovery. In this study, we investigated vegetation dynamics within surface mining patches across the YRB using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 2013 to 2024. Linear regression and meta-analysis approaches were employed to quantify long-term trends in vegetation change at the patch scale, while the LandTrendr algorithm was applied to identify and characterize disturbance and recovery processes at the pixel scale. The results show that the total area of surface mining patches reached 4099.61 km², encompassing 7738 individual patches. At the patch scale, 56.78% of the mining patches exhibited greening over the study period, while the meta-analyzed NDVI showed an overall increase of 3.78%, with Henan showing the largest provincial increase. At the pixel scale, approximately 24.79% of the mining area underwent both disturbance and subsequent recovery, with higher proportions in upstream provinces including Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia. Notably, the total annual newly disturbed areas peaked at 236.81 km² in 2018 and declined sharply thereafter, approaching nearly zero by 2023, whereas the annual newly recovered areas increased over time. Gansu, Ningxia, and Shandong showed exceptionally large newly disturbed or recovered areas in certain years. These findings indicate an overall improvement in vegetation conditions in mining areas, accompanied by pronounced spatial heterogeneity, highlighting the need to sustain restoration efforts while implementing region-specific management strategies.
Wang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.