Assessing Land Cover Changes Caused by Granite Quarrying Using Remote Sensing

Abstract

Dimension stone quarrying in the area between Rustenburg and Brits in the North West Province of South Africa has been in existence for over 70 decades. The unique characteristics of the granite deposits in South Africa resulted in making the country a global producer of the granite rocks. This led to intensified quarrying activities between Rustenburg and Brits town. However, this surface mining method, has a potential to impact the environment in a negative way causing loss in vegetation, depletion of natural resources, loss of scenic beauty and contamination of surface water resources. To assess the land cover changes caused by granite quarrying activities, remotely sensed data in the form of Landsat images between 1998 and 2015 were used. Supervised classification was used to create maps. Accuracy assessment using Google Earth TM as a reference data yielded an overall accuracy of 78%. The post classification change detection method was used to assess land cover changes within the granite quarries. Granite quarries increased by 1174.86 ha while formation of quarry lakes increased to 5.3 ha over the 17-year period. Vegetation cover decreased by 1308 ha in area while 18.3 ha bare land was lost during the same period. This study demonstrated the utility of remote sensing to detect changes in land cover within granite quarries.

Impacts of quarrying activities on the environment and livelihood of people in Border II sub‐location, Nyando sub‐county, Kisumu County, Kenya

“…Moreover, quarrying activities have great potential for biodiversity loss; through excavation, vegetation and land cover clearance. Consequently, alters the natural habitat and esthetic value of the environment (Moeletsi & Tesfamichael, 2017; Garai & Narayana, 2018). The establishment of quarrying sites changes the original land use to quarry land.…”

“…Consequently, alters the natural habitat and esthetic value of the environment (Moeletsi & Tesfamichael, 2017;Garai & Narayana, 2018).…”

Satellite monitoring features of crystalline rocks mining territories within Zhitomyr region based on optical and radar remote sensing data

“…Àíàë³ç îñòàíí³õ äîñë³äaeåíü òà ïóáë³êàö³é ç äàíî¿ ïðîáëåìè ñâ³ä÷èòü ïðî åôåêòèâí³ñòü çàñòîñóâàííÿ äàíèõ äèñòàí-DOI:https://doi. org.10.36023/ujrs.2019.22.157 ö³éíîãî çîíäóâàííÿ Çåìë³ äëÿ êàðòóâàííÿ òà ³äåíòèô³êàö³¿ ãðàí³ò³â (Bertoldi, 2011;Bertoldi et al, 2011;Watts & Harris, 2005) òà ìîí³òîðèíãó ¿õ âèäîáóòêó (Moeletsi & Tesfamichael, 2017). Çàïðîïîíîâàí³ äîñë³äíèêàìè ìåòîäèêè âêëþ÷àëè ð³çí³ ñïîñîáè îáðîáêè ñóïóòíèêîâèõ çîáðàaeåíü: ñï³ââ³äíîøåííÿ êàíàë³â (Bertoldi et al, 2011), êîíòðîëüîâàíó òà íåêîíòðîëüîâàíó êëàñèô³êàö³þ (Moeletsi & Tesfamichael, 2017), ñï³ââ³äíîøåííÿ êàíàë³â, â³äíîñíà ãëèáèíà àáñîðáö³¿, àíàë³ç ãîëîâíèõ êîìïîíåíò, ðîçðàõóíîê ñïåêòðàëüíèõ ³íäåêñ³â (Bertoldi, 2011).…”