Pattern succession analysis of agricultural land converted converted from large opencast mine in loess areas

In restoring abandoned mining area, patterns change research is important to ecosystems change. Patterns succession process of agricultural land and land cover types change delivered important practical signification for farmland protection, sustainable use of land resource and ecological safety of mining ecosystems. A case study was conducted on mining area in Pingshuo, Shangxi province. Based on GIS platform and land use change analysis in mining area, using landscape ecology theory and method, landscape dynamic change process, characteristics and land cover types change were investigated. The analysis of agricultural land use change was emphasized. Results show that landscape change process of large opencast mine ecosystem can be divided as two phases. The first phase is landscape change in ecological damange, including land excavating, piling and occupying. The second phase is landscape change in ecological restoration, which includes the reconstruction of landforms, soil and vegetation. After 20 years of ecological reconstruction under human control, land use patterns has been transformed from dry land-woodland dominated patterns to woodland-construction land dominated patterns. Furthermore, ecological reconstruction has improved the ecological conditions of mining area and agricultural land, and agricultural land area has increased by 50%. But now it has not been used entirely for plantation because of some management system.