ASSESSMENT OF LAND DISTURBANCE IN THE MINSK REGION DURING THE EXTRACTION OF COMMON MINERALS USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

A methodology using satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was developed to assess the prevalence of quarries and exhausted peatlands within the Minsk Region and to calculate the specific density of mining sites across its territory. The combined use of density and area characteristics of the mining sites made it possible to create the most objective cartographic model of the existing quarry load in the study region. The analysis of the model showed that areas with a high quarry load are predominantly associated with large peat massifs within gently undulating moraine and fluvioglacial plains and lowlands, as well as with terminal moraine ridges and uplands of the Sozh age from the Middle Pleistocene. Territories with a medium quarry load are also confined to large peatlands within gently undulating moraine and fluvioglacial plains and lowlands, and to areas of terminal moraine formations of the Sozh age from the Middle Pleistocene. A low quarry load is observed throughout the entire territory of the Minsk Region, characteristic of areas with small-scale peat extraction sites, as well as locations of sand, clay, and sand-gravel-pebble quarries, which are distinguished by their small size and are located within various genetic types of relief.