SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ABANDONED
COAL MINE RECLAMATION
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A Dissertation
Presented to
The School of Graduate Studies
Department of Geography, Geology and Anthropology
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, Indiana
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In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
___________________________
by
Qian Liu
August 1999
 
APPROVAL SHEET

The dissertation of Qian Liu, Contribution to the School of Graduate Studies, Indian State University, Series NN, Number 1234, under the title Spatial Decision Support System for Abandoned Coal Mine Reclamation is approved as partial fulfillment for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree.

 

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Date            [Alignment]     For the School of Graduate Studies

 

[Xiao Liu, you probably should left justify all your text.  Also, you might want to consider using Courier typeface.  Check this out with your adviser; it might be required.]

 
 
Abstract
Abandoned coal mines and mining activities typically cause severe environmental problems related to erosion and pollutant transportation.  Because of the lack of data integration, traditional methods and procedures of the reclamation plan design must go through a time-consuming process. As new technologies from a variety of fields have been revolutionizing the way in which planning is conducted, it is practical to find a more efficient approach to deal with complex reclamation planning. In this research, a Geographic Information System (GIS), remotely sensed data, erosion modeling, and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods were integrated to implement a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) for better reclamation planning. The newly developed Open Development Environment (ODE) and GIS componentware technology were adopted t to provide GIS functions and to build the user interface. The system was designed to facilitate the placing of specific areas for reclamation, within a region of abandoned coal mines, in priority order.

The system was used in the South Fork of  the Patoka River watershed, Indiana, to provide spatial decision support capabilities for generating and evaluating reclamation strategies. Three physical criteria were chosen for the multi-criteria analysis. By assigning two sets of criteria weights, the spatial decision support system generated two maps of ranked priority based on the preferences. The final maps provided the insights for decision makers to evaluate and make reclamation plans.

 
Acknowledgment
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………… iv

List of Tables ……………………………………………………… vii

List of Figures ……………………………………………………… viii

I. Introduction ……………………………………………………… 1

Hypothesis ……………………………………………… 3

Study Area …………………………………………….… 4

General Nature of the problem  [?]……………………… 5

Soils ……………………………………………… 10

Mining History ……………………………………………… 13

Impact of Surface Mining ……………………………………… 14

Abandoned Coal Mine Reclamation ……………………………… 17

II. Literature Review ………………………………………………. 20

Geographic Information System (GIS) …………………………….. 20

Modeling ………………………………………………………. 22

Image Processing ………………………………………………. 26

Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) ………………………… 27

Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) …………………………. 30

Open Development Environment and GIS Componentware ………. 35

III. Methodology ………………………………………………………. 37

Developing a GIS Database ………………………………………… 41

The Soil Erosion Rate Model ………………………………………… 48

Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis …………………………. 48

Implementation of the SDSS ………………………………………… 52

User Interface ………………………………………………………… 54

IV. Results and Discussions …………………………………………. 59

Data Preparation and Description …………………………………. 59

Land Use / Land Cover Classification ………………………….. 67

System Description …………………………………………………... 70

Buffering Stream Proximity …………………………………………… 71

Erosion Rate Calculation ………………………………………….. 74

Acidity ………………………………………………………….. 76

Weight Matrix ………………………………………………………….. 77

Normalization (Reclassification) ………………………………….. 78

Visualization ………………………………………………………….. 79

System Requirements ………………………………………………….. 80

Discussions ……………………………………………………………

V. Conclusions …………………………………………………………… 84

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………

Appendixes

A ……………………………………………………………………

B ……………………………………………………………………

 
List of Tables

 

Table 1-1. pH Values of Water Sample on Log Creek for 1998 12

Table 4-1. Coverage Factor Values of Surface Classes 69

Table 4-2. Illustration of Assignment of Value to Distance of Streams 73

Table 4-3. Conditional Operation on Two Buffer Grids 73

 
 
List of Figures
Figure 1-1. Location of Study Area

Figure 1-2. Topographic Map of Study Area

Figure 1-3. Surface Mining History in Study Area

Figure 1-4. Log Creek Water Sample Site

Figure 3-1. System Flow Chart

Figure 4-1. pH Map of Study Area

Figure 4-2. K Value Map of Study Area

Figure 4-3. DEM of Study Area

Figure 4-4. Streams and Lakes of Study Area

Figure 4-5. Aerial Photograph of Study Area

Figure 4-6. Land Use / Land Cover Classification Map

Figure 4-7. Main Form of SDSS Application

Figure 4-8. Tab Form for Stream Proximity

Figure 4-9. Buffer Function

Figure 4-10. Tab Form for Erosion Rate

 

Figure 4-11. Tab Form for Acidity

Figure 4-12. Tab Form for Weight Matrix

[You might wish to discuss text alignment with your adviser.]