Change of ecological landscape in open-pit coal mining area of northern grassland: taking Yimin open coal mine in Hulun Buir City as an example

In order to reveal the impact of open-pit coal mining on the mining area's ecological environment, taking Yimin open coal mine in Hulun Buir City of Inner Mongolia as an example, the changes of the mining area and its surrounding ecological landscape in 1975-2010 were studied and the vegetation types and distribution changes analyzed, by using 3S macro-scale research and detailed investigation of ground vegetation. Results showed that the main types of ecological landscape in the mining area and their area and spatial pattern changed greatly in 1975-2010. The grassland landscape area decreased by 10.93%, a large area of original lakes and wetlands disappeared, the river meander near the mining area showed simplified development, and the unchanged type of ecological landscape area only accounted for 32.33% of the total area of the mining area. Compared with the surrounding areas, the species diversity in the mining area decreased, the primary productivity decreased, and the ecological degradation situation was more serious. Human activities had caused great damage and interference to the mining area ecosystem. The closer to industrial and the mining area and human settlements, the greater the scale and intensity of ecological environment damage would be.