**9. Landscape degradation within mining area of central part of Ukraine**

Mining is one of the most anthropogenic threats to the environment. The mineral deposits and operating mines are unevenly spread on the territory of the country. The Donetsk Basin in the south-east has large deposits of coal, while the east central area is rich in iron and uranium ores. Ukraine also has some of the world's largest manganese deposits, located in the southern Ukraine.

Mining industry stress promotes the creation of new elements in the landscape. These are refuse heaps of empty rocks, open pits, technogenic subsidence, disturbances created by technogenic accumulation—terricones, dumps, sludge depositories, etc. They are characterized by emergence of toxic rocks on the surface. Vegetation here is developed very slowly, and biocenosis is unstable. In case of the complete recultivation (deactivation of toxic rocks, formation of soil cover and remediation of phytocenosis), the secondary landscapes are formed.

The researched territory is called the Kirovograd uranium ore region and located in the central part of the Ukrainian Shield. It is subjected to a power pressure on the environment with consequent significant and often critical landscape transformations as a result of imperfect technologies and management. The mining development is accompanied by condemnation of considerable areas of fertile agricultural lands, predominantly chernozem. After temporal use, the last ones are often transferred to a category of an anthropogenic desert. Next to each dumped fill of empty rocks, a risk zone is allotted (the first one is 200 m, the second one is 500 m) that leads to the significant loss of the land resources. Within such zones, the atmospheric air is polluted and the soils are salinized and waterlogged that makes impossible to use them in agriculture. Considerable areas are occupied with the solid wastes from reclamation industry, namely with ash dumps, storage tales, sludge pits. They have a significant amount of toxic elements that contaminate the atmospheric air, soils, surface and underground waters of neighbouring and remote landscape complexes.

**Figure 8.** Study area source multispectral satellite image (Landsat-5/TM, 23.08.2010, 30 m resolution pseudo-natural colour composite, Kirovograd oblast, Ukraine) (*a*); high-resolution images of researched mines: Smolinska mine (*b*), Novokostyantynivska mine (*c*) and Ingulska mine (*d*).

The Ukrainian uranium deposits are characterized by a low content of uranium. Nevertheless, developed infrastructure of their mining and uranium concentrate production along with big sizes of uranium deposits, high thickness of uranium-containing rocks, relatively low water content in mining tunnels, relatively simple measure of radiation protection (because of low content of uranium in ores)—all these facts provide competitive capacity for the uranium concentrate on the market and thus stipulates the development of uranium mining [42].

To investigate vegetation cover and soil erosion processes as the most reliable indicators of land degradation, we followed the same technique as it is described above at Section 6. We used Landsat-5/TM multispectral images for the period 1992–2010 from Landsat data store (http://landsatlook.usgs.gov) through the Earth Explorer geoportal. DTED SRTM (http:// srtm.csi.cgiar.org) as of 1991 and ASTER GDEM (http://gdem.ersdac.jspacesystems.or.jp) as of 2010, soil map of the Kirovograd region, and climate characteristics by World Climate portal (http://www.climate-charts.com/Countries/Ukraine.html) were additionally involved into calculations. Source images that were used for further processing are shown in the **Figure 8**.

the last ones are often transferred to a category of an anthropogenic desert. Next to each dumped fill of empty rocks, a risk zone is allotted (the first one is 200 m, the second one is 500 m) that leads to the significant loss of the land resources. Within such zones, the atmospheric air is polluted and the soils are salinized and waterlogged that makes impossible to use them in agriculture. Considerable areas are occupied with the solid wastes from reclamation industry, namely with ash dumps, storage tales, sludge pits. They have a significant amount of toxic elements that contaminate the atmospheric air, soils, surface and underground waters

**Figure 8.** Study area source multispectral satellite image (Landsat-5/TM, 23.08.2010, 30 m resolution pseudo-natural colour composite, Kirovograd oblast, Ukraine) (*a*); high-resolution images of researched mines: Smolinska mine (*b*),

The Ukrainian uranium deposits are characterized by a low content of uranium. Nevertheless, developed infrastructure of their mining and uranium concentrate production along with big sizes of uranium deposits, high thickness of uranium-containing rocks, relatively low water content in mining tunnels, relatively simple measure of radiation protection (because of low content of uranium in ores)—all these facts provide competitive capacity for the uranium concentrate on the market and thus stipulates the development of uranium mining [42].

of neighbouring and remote landscape complexes.

68 Land Degradation and Desertification - a Global Crisis

Novokostyantynivska mine (*c*) and Ingulska mine (*d*).

**Figure 9.** Mining area land degradation for the period from 1992 to 2010 (a); land degradation map within the Smolinska mine vicinity and the topographic base (b); c—land degradation map within the Ingulska mine vicinity and the topographic base (c), d—land degradation map within the Novokostyantynivska mine and the topographic base.

As a result of multispectral imagery processing, the land degradation map was obtained where seven classes of land degradation are depicted (**Figure 9a**) [43]. The areas of high degradation can be noticed within the territory of mine's infrastructure. But on the other hand, high level of anthropogenic transformation (the same yellow-orange colour) is also observed along the highway infrastructure and agricultural lands (overburden with unprecedented usage of fertile chernozem).

Negative and positive changes within the study area can be described for the period researched. The main part of the territory (around 35%) remains indifferent. These are urban areas of the Smolino town, woods and meadows around [44]. The same as we mentioned above for the Kirovograd ore region, high-degradation sites are observed in more detail on the arable lands perhaps due to crop rotation and poor management, along the small rivers and irrigated channels perhaps due to water erosion. The area around the mine itself is highly degraded which is understandable especially if to look at huge refuse heaps located nearby (**Figure 10**).

**Figure 10.** Refuse heaps of the Smolinska mine: directly next to the heap (a) and at a 200 m distance of from the heap (b).

The land degradation mapping technique on the basis of processing of a two-level model for multispectral satellite imagery can be used to investigate land degradation within humaninspired areas elsewhere, for example within energy facilities [45]. Let us consider the last example of the South-Ukrainian power-generation territory. This area where several energy facilities are located is considered as the one of high priority for further development of energy sector in Ukraine. Even though the environmental impact in this respect is expected to grow, the scientific research on impact assessment are being constantly held for the last time, their importance and new techniques development are always being brought to the agenda.

The aim of this study is preliminary assessment of land resource degradation within a radius of approximately 30 km around the South-Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) using multispectral satellite imagery and further development of geoinformation technologies for remote mapping of landscape changes.

In terms of physical and geographical location the researched area belongs to the Novo-Ukrainsk region of the steppe zone. The basic soil-forming rocks here are loess that determines formation of chernozem soils of different level salinity and humus content. Fertile chernozem soils were formed on Quaternary loess and loess-like loams within watershed divides and their slopes. Specific soil type called solonchak was formed within close location of high mineralized underground waters. Altogether around 60 different soil subtypes are found within the researched area. That is why auxiliary geospatial data were needed for remote land degradation research—digital terrain elevations, soil maps, climatic characteristics of study area, etc.

As a result of multispectral imagery processing, the land degradation map was obtained where seven classes of land degradation are depicted (**Figure 9a**) [43]. The areas of high degradation can be noticed within the territory of mine's infrastructure. But on the other hand, high level of anthropogenic transformation (the same yellow-orange colour) is also observed along the highway infrastructure and agricultural lands (overburden with unprecedented usage of

Negative and positive changes within the study area can be described for the period researched. The main part of the territory (around 35%) remains indifferent. These are urban areas of the Smolino town, woods and meadows around [44]. The same as we mentioned above for the Kirovograd ore region, high-degradation sites are observed in more detail on the arable lands perhaps due to crop rotation and poor management, along the small rivers and irrigated channels perhaps due to water erosion. The area around the mine itself is highly degraded which is understandable especially if to look at huge refuse heaps located nearby (**Figure 10**).

**Figure 10.** Refuse heaps of the Smolinska mine: directly next to the heap (a) and at a 200 m distance of from the heap

The land degradation mapping technique on the basis of processing of a two-level model for multispectral satellite imagery can be used to investigate land degradation within humaninspired areas elsewhere, for example within energy facilities [45]. Let us consider the last example of the South-Ukrainian power-generation territory. This area where several energy facilities are located is considered as the one of high priority for further development of energy sector in Ukraine. Even though the environmental impact in this respect is expected to grow, the scientific research on impact assessment are being constantly held for the last time, their importance and new techniques development are always being brought to the agenda.

The aim of this study is preliminary assessment of land resource degradation within a radius of approximately 30 km around the South-Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) using multispectral satellite imagery and further development of geoinformation technologies for

fertile chernozem).

70 Land Degradation and Desertification - a Global Crisis

(b).

remote mapping of landscape changes.

**Figure 11.** Study area source multispectral satellite images Landsat-5/TM, 24.08.1993 (a) and Landsat-8/OLI, 30.07.2013 (b); both ones are 30 m resolution pseudo-natural colour composite, Yuzhnoukrainsk, Ukraine.

In this case following the same technique, we used Landsat/TM and Landsat/OLI multispectral images of 1993 and 2013 correspondingly, obtained from the USGS Landsat Global Archive.

Thematic landscape changes maps obtained as a result of multispectral images processing (**Figure 11**), allowed assessing the state and trends in land degradation processes within the territory researched (**Figure 12**). The thematic map reflects the areas of low, medium and high degradation level. More than 40% of the territory within a radius of approximately 30 km from the NPP is subjected to anthropogenic impact of medium and high level [46]. These are mainly agricultural lands highly transformed due to crop rotation and poor management technique. The data demonstrate correlation between long-term industrial and agricultural impact and land degradation.

In all cases study, the research visually emphasizes the level of anthropogenic stress within the mining and energy facilities location and within arable lands around those facilities.

**Figure 12.** Land degradation map of the South-Ukrainian power-generation territory for the period from 1993 to 2013.
