Effect of coal mining collapses of the Daliuta coal mine on land desertification

Abstract：Exploitation of coal resources in the Daliuta area, Shenmu, Shaanxi, inevitably causes the problems of mine environmental geology such as land collapse, ground cracks and lowering of the groundwater level; thus whether land collapse will intensified land desertification becomes a hot topic. Investigation indicates that during the last 20 years the land desertification in the whole Daliuta area and main mining areas therein shows a consistent evolutionary trend of gradual decrease of severely desertified lands and gradual increase of slightly desertified and non-desertified lands, and the land desertification in coal mining collapse areas has not been engraved. The authors studied the relationship between vegetation species and their covered rates, soil granularity, water content, vertical distribution of vegetation root systems at the vertical soil profiles in four coal mining collapse areas and two non-mining areas in the coal mine and conclude that coal mining collapses have no significant effect on land desertification and that the annual average rainfall of 415 mm may in the main meet the requirement for the moisture content for the normal vegetation growth in coal mining collapse areas. Such a conclusion provides a scientific basis for the prevention and control of land desertification during large-scale coal resources exploitation in mining areas.