Land use changes in opencast mine based on RS and GIS technology

Based on four periods Landsat TM data, large opencast mine of Antaipu was chosen as research object, land use types were classified according to stripping area, excavated area, land reclamation area and original area, and combination method of surveillance classify and human-computer reciprocal interpreting was adopted to get land use type graphs of four periods. Land use type graphs of different periods were overlaid, and land use changes in the opencast mine was analyzed. Results show that the original area of study region was decreased around 1 km² per year during the past 15 years. Due to gradual increase of coal output, original area has a tendency of speedup decrease, excavated area keeps about 7 km² on the whole, and stripping area and land reclamation area incline to increase while land reclamation area increases much faster. It is expected that excavated area and land reclamation area may be equal in 2015. According to the mining speed at present, original area of the first period in the study region will disappear in 2008. Technology of RS and GIS were used to analyze land use change in large opencast mine, which can quickly and precisely master the time and spatial structure of land use, transfer condition and development tendency of different land use types in different periods, and provide decision-making support for land reclamation and ecosystem reconstruction in large opencast mine region.