Land Assessment in Mining Regions Considering Ecology.

The analysis of early studies and methods of land degradation assessment demonstrated that the existing assessment procedure does not reflect the real situation. The existing methods do not consider ecological aspects as loss of social-recreational and protective-restoration functions. The existing methods of assessing damage from the mining and processing enterprise require improvement with mandatory consideration of the environmental component. The object of the study is the land in mining and industrial regions, where minerals are extracted underground and industrial masses are formed on the surface. The main types of land use have been systematized, which makes it possible to apply an estimated aggregate approach. The loss of a number of functions of economic turnover is a classification sign of land degradation assessment. A three-criteria approach to the assessment of land degradation is proposed. This approach considers the impact of loss of social-recreational functions, loss of protective and restorative functions, and the impact of the main mining type of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]