Assessment of the potential for restoration of the environmental state of the natural ecosystems disturbed by development of geo-resources based on satellite data

Abstract

The factors of environmental state restoration of the natural ecosystems disturbed as the result of mining mineral deposits were investigated using the case study of the phytocenosis formed on the enclosing dam of the apatite-nepheline ore processing waste storage in the Khibiny group of deposits according to the technology developed in the Mining Institute of the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the restoration of disturbed lands through creation of a biologically active environment without deposition of a fertile layer. Based on the data of satellite observations of the monitoring sites during the vegetation period, the impact of relief as well as the heat and moisture availability on the state of the emerging vegetation cover was studied using gradient transects of different exposures along the height of the enclosing dam slope. The spatial resolution of the satellite images was harmonized using the enhanced pan-sharpening procedure with the minimum characteristic size of the dam slope elements and the representativeness of the data obtained when assessing the vegetation cover condition using the vegetation index and the moisture stress index was ensured. Generalization was made of the relationship between the parameters characterizing the vegetation cover state and abiotic factors of its formation using a neural network model. Two artificial neural networks were trained to predict the vegetation and the plant moisture stress indices using the data set obtained from processing of visible, infrared and thermal spectral channels of satellite images of the monitoring sites. The neural network model shows that the vegetation index of the emerging vegetation cover is antibate to the plant moisture stress index - the dominant factor in restoration of the environmental state of the investigated site, and to the surface temperature of the enclosing dam of the tailing dump. Dependence of the predicted moisture stress of the phytocenosis formed ontop the enclosing dam slope on the elevation and exposure was used to assess the potential of its restoration to the forest succession stage corresponding to the phytocenosis of the surrounding natural environment. Zoning of the tailing dump according to the potential for restoration of the environmental state was performed in order to support the decision-making process when planning environmental protection measures.