Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations

The rapid development of the energy and mining industry has supported the industrialization process in China, but it has also caused a series of negative impacts on the ecological environment. As a resource concentration and regional development pivot, evaluating the impact of mineral exploitation o...

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Main Authors: Peng Zeng, Liying Liang, Zhicheng Duan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-04-01
Series:Ecological Indicators
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001772
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author Peng Zeng
Liying Liang
Zhicheng Duan
author_facet Peng Zeng
Liying Liang
Zhicheng Duan
author_sort Peng Zeng
collection DOAJ
description The rapid development of the energy and mining industry has supported the industrialization process in China, but it has also caused a series of negative impacts on the ecological environment. As a resource concentration and regional development pivot, evaluating the impact of mineral exploitation on the ecological environment under the scope of urban agglomeration can efficiently mitigate the contradiction between mineral exploitation and ecological environment protection. Therefore, this paper chose 14 urban agglomerations under the nationally planned mining areas as the research object. This paper analyzed the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecological stress in mineral exploitation from multi-aspects, including the ecological base's vulnerability, ecological function, and the stress degree of critical environmental factors. The results of the study show as follows: (1) The distribution of the vulnerability of the ecological base is highly spatial correlated, the Yellow river basin and Yangtze-river basin are clustered with high ecological base vulnerability and low vulnerability urban agglomerations respectively; (2) More than half of the urban agglomerations are stressed by ecological functions, the threats were mainly coming from the water and land resources; (3) Highly stressed cities concentrated in the Yellow-river and Yangtze-river basins, with strong geographical concentration, the impact of mineral exploitation on the ecosystem is profound than water and air environment. (4) Comprehensive stress was the most common type for mineral cities, typically clustered in urban agglomerations with sufficient mineral resources or heavy soil and water loss, presented as a centralized distribution pattern in general. In the end, based on the results, this paper proposed three different control advice for spatial, intensity, and exploitation, respectively, to provide theoretical support and practical solutions for controlling mineral exploitations in urban agglomerations.
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spelling doaj.art-7079473e77464fe1af0044757f7685222023-03-22T04:36:00ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2023-04-01148110035Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerationsPeng Zeng0Liying Liang1Zhicheng Duan2School of Ethnology and Sociology, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning, Guangxi 530006, ChinaSchool of Economics, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning, Guangxi 530006, ChinaSchool of Social Work and Human Services, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia; Corresponding author.The rapid development of the energy and mining industry has supported the industrialization process in China, but it has also caused a series of negative impacts on the ecological environment. As a resource concentration and regional development pivot, evaluating the impact of mineral exploitation on the ecological environment under the scope of urban agglomeration can efficiently mitigate the contradiction between mineral exploitation and ecological environment protection. Therefore, this paper chose 14 urban agglomerations under the nationally planned mining areas as the research object. This paper analyzed the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecological stress in mineral exploitation from multi-aspects, including the ecological base's vulnerability, ecological function, and the stress degree of critical environmental factors. The results of the study show as follows: (1) The distribution of the vulnerability of the ecological base is highly spatial correlated, the Yellow river basin and Yangtze-river basin are clustered with high ecological base vulnerability and low vulnerability urban agglomerations respectively; (2) More than half of the urban agglomerations are stressed by ecological functions, the threats were mainly coming from the water and land resources; (3) Highly stressed cities concentrated in the Yellow-river and Yangtze-river basins, with strong geographical concentration, the impact of mineral exploitation on the ecosystem is profound than water and air environment. (4) Comprehensive stress was the most common type for mineral cities, typically clustered in urban agglomerations with sufficient mineral resources or heavy soil and water loss, presented as a centralized distribution pattern in general. In the end, based on the results, this paper proposed three different control advice for spatial, intensity, and exploitation, respectively, to provide theoretical support and practical solutions for controlling mineral exploitations in urban agglomerations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001772Mineral exploitationEcological stressMining citiesUrban agglomerations
spellingShingle Peng Zeng
Liying Liang
Zhicheng Duan
Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
Ecological Indicators
Mineral exploitation
Ecological stress
Mining cities
Urban agglomerations
title Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
title_full Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
title_fullStr Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
title_full_unstemmed Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
title_short Ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
title_sort ecological and environmental impacts of mineral exploitation in urban agglomerations
topic Mineral exploitation
Ecological stress
Mining cities
Urban agglomerations
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001772
work_keys_str_mv AT pengzeng ecologicalandenvironmentalimpactsofmineralexploitationinurbanagglomerations
AT liyingliang ecologicalandenvironmentalimpactsofmineralexploitationinurbanagglomerations
AT zhichengduan ecologicalandenvironmentalimpactsofmineralexploitationinurbanagglomerations