Abstract:The vegetation coverage fraction reflects the quality of vegetation and is, thus, an important index to evaluate the vegetation restoration effect of reclaimed land in mining areas. This study, considering Antaibao mining areas, evaluated the currency of different vegetation indices using the pixel dichotomy model based on the new band of WorldView 2 (WV 2) images and field-measured data, and then abstracted the vegetation coverage fraction of the study area to indicate the vegetation restoration effect. The results show that (1) with a near-infrared 2 and red-band of WV 2 image, vegetation coverage fraction (Fc2) as calculated by the mixed-pixel method, was the closest to the field-measured values (R2=0.934,RMSE=0.048).(2) The study areas had been well restored as a whole:the vegetation coverage fraction was moderate-to-high in more than 60% of the area, while in only 22.09% of the area was lower than 20%. Vegetation restoration affected by the duration and management measures differed among the plots:in Inner Dump, West Dump, and South Dump, better vegetation restoration was observed with moderate-to-high coverage, at 75.24%, 68.35%, and 68.20%, respectively, than in the expanded West Dump (22.29%).(3) The vegetation restoration pattern with the combination of grass, shrub, and trees had the best restoration effect, followed by the inter-planting of grass and trees, while the combination of shrub grass, only grass vegetation, and natural restoration had relatively poor effect. The soil moisture rises with increased vegetation coverage, implying that vegetation status plays an important role in soil surface-water retention.
