Factors of Land Degradation in Wuhai Mining Area Based on GIS

In order to study characteristics and driving factors of the land degradation in mining areas quantitatively, remote sensing and GIS technology were used to characterize changes in land use in area and type in the Wuhai mining area, Inner Mongolia from 1990 to 2010. On such a basis, some economic, social and spatial factors were selected for exploration of factors driving changes in land use in the studied zone during the 2 different periods of 1990-2000 and 2000-2010. Results show that the changes in land use in the study area in the recent 20 years were manifested mainly in drastic decrease of grassland in area and rapid expansion of construction land and wasteland, which were used to be grassland and farmland, while land degradation was mainly in growth of sandy land and wasteland in area. Aanalysis using the Logistic regression model reveals that land degradation during the first period (1990-2000) was driven mainly by factors, like "distance to the nearest mining site", "distance to the nearest village and town" and slope Ⅱ (5-15°), while during the second period (2000-2010) it was by factors like "distance to the nearest water source", "elevation", and "distance to the nearest road".