Mining can exacerbate global degradation of dryland
Shen, Zexi (Beijing Normal University. Faculty of Geographical Science)
Zhang, Qiang (Beijing Normal University. Faculty of Geographical Science)
Piao, Shilong (Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science)
Peñuelas, Josep (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Stenseth, Nils Christian (University of Oslo. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis)
Chen, Deliang (University of Gothenburg. Department ofEarth Sciences)
Xu, Chong-Yu (University of Oslo. Department of Geosciences)
Singh, Vijay P. (Texas A&M University (Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering)
Liu, Tingxi (Inner Mongolia Agricultural University)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Groundwater storage (GS) is the major water resource for vegetation in drylands. Thus,positive relationships between vegetative growth condition (VGC) and GS are expected in drylands. Since mining-induced dewatering tends to deplete GS surrounding mine sites, VGC should become lessfavorable due to a shortage of accessible water. However, quantitative analysis repealed the opposite. We found that global annual mineral production in drylands increased by 24%, while GS decreased by22% but the VGC improved by 37% (2002-2010). And negative relationships between VGC and GS weredetected in 84. 7% of global dryland mine sites. We concluded that irrigation supported by mining-induceddewatering promoted the vegetation growth surrounding mine sites. However, since the GS is limited,irrigation-supported vegetation growth is unsustainable. This study elucidates the reason behind theseabnormal negative relationships and highlights the potential risk of vegetation degradation induced byunsustainable groundwater depletion in global dryland mine sites.
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Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Eco-hydrology ; Mining activity ; Groundwater storage ; Vegetation ; GRACE ; Sustainability
Published in:	Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 48, issue 21 (November 2021) , art.e2021GL094490, ISSN 1944-8007

DOI: 10.1029/2021GL094490

10 p, 3.8 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
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