Footprints of past mining in Alaska (USA) derived from high-resolution satellite imagery

TL;DR

This paper presents a new detailed map of past mining areas in Alaska using satellite imagery, revealing much more land disturbance than previously known.

Contribution

The study introduces the first comprehensive map of mine waste landforms in Alaska, significantly expanding the known footprint of past mining.

Findings

The new dataset maps 6–14 times more area than previous mine footprint maps in Alaska.

The dataset explicitly delineates mine waste landforms like tailings piles for the first time in the region.

The data are publicly available under a CC0 license for free use and reuse.

Abstract

Mapping the land area used for mining in the past is essential for guiding the remediation of affected landscapes and assessing the resource potential of related waste products. Despite significant recent progress delineating footprints of active and inactive mining globally, the known inventory of such mine lands remains incomplete. Here, I describe a new map dataset of footprints of land surface disturbance and waste at sites of past mining in Alaska (USA) based on visual interpretation of satellite imagery. This dataset maps 6–14 times the area of previous regional and global mine footprint maps in Alaska and is the first in the region to explicitly delineate mine waste landforms (e.g., tailings piles). The data are publicly available from the U.S. Geological Survey under a “no rights reserved” Creative Commons (CC0) license agreement.

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