Classification and corresponding ecological restoration strategies for coal mining areas in Xinjiang by integrating coal resources,water resources with physical geography&ecosystem

YU Haochen; ZHANG Jian; HAN Xiaotong; MU Shouguo; BIAN Zhengfu

Abstract：Regional classification and adapting measures to local conditions were meaningful for the scientific imple-mentation of Ecological Protection and Restoration(EPR).This is due to the regional differences under different types of resource allocation or element combinations.In Xinjiang Province,land degradation issues caused by the spa-tial coupling of large-scale mining disturbance and arid fragile ecological environment have reached a dramatic condi-tion.However,the vast area determined that the differences in ecological issues and the EPR measures in differ-ent mining areas would be inevitable,but there was a lack of clearly classified solutions currently.To this end,this pa-per attempts to classify the mining areas involved in 5 coal bases in Xinjiang from the different combination types of"Coal Resources,Water Resources with Physical Geography&Ecosystem(CR-WR-PGE)".Furthermore,differential strategies for EPR were proposed.Results showed that:① According to the analysis of CR,WR and PGE,the conceptual model of CR-WR-PGE combination type classification based on spatial overlay method were constructed.Then,a simplified division method including 3 aspects and 5 indicators was put forward.② The 5 coal bases were identified and divided into 69 CR-WR-PGE assemblage types.Among them,there are 15,17,25,33 and 24 different combination types in Zhundong,Tuha,Yili,Kubai and Hefeng,respectively.Then the main charac-teristics of the respective combination types of the 5 coal bases were analyzed systematically.③According to different CR-WR-PGE combination types,three Class Ⅰ mining areas in Xinjiang are further summarized,including Gobi Des-ert Mining Area(GDMA),Desert Steppe Mining Area(DSMA),and Oasis Mining Area a(OMA).And they were further divided into 6 number of Class Ⅱ and 17 number of Class Ⅲ.④ The differential strategies of EPR were pro-posed according to the class Ⅰ.In GDMAs,the requirements for vegetation restoration could be properly relaxed and at-tention should be paid to the reconstruction of large-scale gravel layer.In DSMAs,the guided restoration model could be applied to eliminate or reduce the negative disturbance of human activities to promote the self-restoration of land e-cosystem elements.In OMAs,ecological protection still should be controlled by government planning,but social capital should be allowed to invest in ecological restoration of mine ecological restoration with proper guidance and build a di-versified market-oriented restoration mechanism.In the future,the new concept of CR-WR-PGE combination type should be established in the field of EPR in mining area,which can not only provide boundary and guidance for"one mine-one policy",but also provide scientific basis for maintaining regional ecological security.