
Surface mining has profound impacts on ecosystems, contributing to land degradation, vegetation loss, pollution, and threats to biodiversity. Given the rapidly rising demand for raw materials, understanding the dynamics of mining and reclamation processes is essential to support sustainable development. Here, we integrate and analyze a large set of mines distributed worldwide based on their known land extent circa year 2020. We integrated time-series data of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), nighttime light (NTL) intensity, and land use to detect and identify changes within mine sites from 1985 to 2022 and assess spatiotemporal trajectories of mining and reclamation processes. The dataset comprises 74,780 polygons, covering a total area of 83,155 km2. Our dataset obtained the maximum potential mining disturbance boundary—the cumulative outer envelope of mining-induced land disturbance over the study period.
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
