TY - JOUR

T1 - Satellite-Based Mapping of Gold-Mining-Related Land-Cover Changes in the Magadan Region, Northeast Russia

AU - Shikhov, Andrey

AU - Ilyushina, Polina

AU - Makarieva, Olga

AU - Zemlianskova, Anastasiia

AU - Mozgina, Maria

N1 - Shikhov, A.; Ilyushina, P.; Makarieva, O.; Zemlianskova, A.; Mozgina, M. Satellite-Based Mapping of Gold-Mining-Related Land-Cover Changes in the Magadan Region, Northeast Russia. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 3564. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15143564

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Gold mining generates major environmental impacts like landscape degradation, accumulation of waste rock dumps, and water contamination by suspended solids. Russia ranks third in theworld in gold production, but the impact of gold mining has not been previously estimated for itsvast northeastern part. This study provides a detailed overview of land-cover changes associatedwith gold mining in the Magadan region (northeast Russia) in the 21st century, where alluvial goldproduction has increased by a third in the last 20 years. A long-term series of Landsat and Sentinel-2images obtained in July and August are used to compile two datasets of mining-impacted areas withtotally removed vegetation for 2000–2002 and 2022. We calculated the NDVI difference and thendiscriminated mining-related vegetation losses from other bare areas, using additional data like theclassification of landforms based on the digital surface model and the data on mining allotments.The total area of gold-mining sites was estimated as 41,206 ha in 2000–2002 and 72,602 ha in 2022,with an increase of 26,031 ha over the past 4–6 years. Moreover, this is a lower-boundary estimate,without taking into account man-made reservoirs and historical mines recovered by vegetation. Thespatial distribution of mining sites has not changed significantly over the past two decades andhas a maximum in the western part of the region. We found that the floodplains of the Berelekhand Debin Rivers (large tributaries of the Kolyma River) are most heavily impacted by gold miningwith a removed vegetation canopy occupying 16.0% and 11.2% of their area. Along with the landdegradation assessment, we found that 19,900 ha of historical gold-mining sites in the Berelekh Riverbasin are recovered by vegetation, which is comparable in size to the areas impacted by mining overthe past 20 years.

AB - Gold mining generates major environmental impacts like landscape degradation, accumulation of waste rock dumps, and water contamination by suspended solids. Russia ranks third in theworld in gold production, but the impact of gold mining has not been previously estimated for itsvast northeastern part. This study provides a detailed overview of land-cover changes associatedwith gold mining in the Magadan region (northeast Russia) in the 21st century, where alluvial goldproduction has increased by a third in the last 20 years. A long-term series of Landsat and Sentinel-2images obtained in July and August are used to compile two datasets of mining-impacted areas withtotally removed vegetation for 2000–2002 and 2022. We calculated the NDVI difference and thendiscriminated mining-related vegetation losses from other bare areas, using additional data like theclassification of landforms based on the digital surface model and the data on mining allotments.The total area of gold-mining sites was estimated as 41,206 ha in 2000–2002 and 72,602 ha in 2022,with an increase of 26,031 ha over the past 4–6 years. Moreover, this is a lower-boundary estimate,without taking into account man-made reservoirs and historical mines recovered by vegetation. Thespatial distribution of mining sites has not changed significantly over the past two decades andhas a maximum in the western part of the region. We found that the floodplains of the Berelekhand Debin Rivers (large tributaries of the Kolyma River) are most heavily impacted by gold miningwith a removed vegetation canopy occupying 16.0% and 11.2% of their area. Along with the landdegradation assessment, we found that 19,900 ha of historical gold-mining sites in the Berelekh Riverbasin are recovered by vegetation, which is comparable in size to the areas impacted by mining overthe past 20 years.

KW - gold mining

KW - land degradation

KW - Landsat and Sentinel-2 images

KW - NDVI

KW - landforms classification

KW - Google Earth Engine

KW - vegetation recovery

KW - Magadan region

UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/14/3564

M3 - Article

VL - 15

JO - Remote Sensing

JF - Remote Sensing

SN - 2072-4292

IS - 14

M1 - 3564

ER -