Urban scars turn into ecological parks and abandoned mines, achieving a magnificent transformation. Maoming, Guangdong | Ecology | Park abandonment
CCTV News: Maoming, Guangdong is a city built and developed due to the petroleum industry. In the northwest corner of the city, there was a former open-pit mining site where the ecological environment continued to deteriorate due to disorderly mining. In 2013, the local mining site was closed for ecological restoration, gradually transforming into an open ecological park. Now, CCTV reporter Zhang Qi is on site. Zhang Qi, how did the mining site in Maoming become an ecological park? Can you introduce it to us.
CCTV reporter Zhang Qi: I am currently in the open-pit mining ecological park in Maoming, Guangdong. This is the largest natural ecological park in the area, consisting of a mining lake with a water surface of about 6 square kilometers and a storage capacity of 160 million cubic meters, as well as nearly 10000 acres of ecological forest land. After entering summer vacation, many parents come here with their children. They told me that the reason why this place attracts them to bring their children is not only because of the beautiful natural scenery, but also because it allows children to understand the changes of the city here.
The city of Maoming where I am located is also known as the "Southern Oil City" because in the 1950s, a huge amount of oil shale was discovered in the open-pit mining area where I am currently located. There is still an exposed primitive landform here, with a shallow layer of topsoil on top and resources such as kaolin, oil shale, coal, and iron ore below. During the 30 years from official production to shutdown, over 100 million tons of oil shale and 2.92 million tons of shale oil were extracted here, which were extremely precious resources at that time and made special contributions to alleviating the country's oil difficulties at that time.
There are two pictures next to me. This one shows the sand layer rolling and exposed stones everywhere during the mining process. In addition, this picture shows the formation of huge mining pits in the mining area at that time, and the enclosed mining lake formed by the accumulation of rainwater all year round. The water quality is acidified, and soil erosion is severe. Especially after 1992, although shale oil production ceased, the mining of associated minerals such as kaolin and coal continued, and there were also many phenomena such as illegal mining and theft. Industrial waste, household waste, and washing wastewater were discharged everywhere, and this place was also known as the "scar" of the city by local residents.
In 2013, Maoming City shut down mines and began environmental remediation and ecological restoration. How to scientifically restore the environment that has been damaged over decades? After investigation and research, it was found that the local area did not adopt the traditional and simple method of filling the mine pit and then planting trees for greening. But it is to adapt to local conditions and take advantage of the situation, by constructing diversion channels and diverting water into the lake to open up the water system, completely changing the water quality of the mining lake. The local people now call the color of the lake here mine blue, for example, the place where I am located is the most obvious. The lake water around the plants in the water tends to be darker blue, and when it goes further outside, it begins to appear in different shades of green and light blue. This is also because the rich minerals in the rock layers at the bottom of the lake refract and scatter the light spectrum, resulting in distinct color tones and levels. According to testing, the lake water here generally meets the Class III water quality standard.
Beyond the water diversion into the lake, there are trees planted to restore greenery. The original topography of the mining area is mainly composed of kaolin, with soil compaction that is not permeable, and a low survival rate of trees. To plant trees on the "iron plate", the local area partially replaces the soil in the mining area with the silt cleared annually from the Xiaodong River and several surrounding parks, and plants tree species on this basis. At present, the open-pit mining area has completed the greening project of over 9000 acres with over 500000 trees, and the survival rate of tree species is over 85%.
