Assessing vegetation recovery in reclaimed opencast mines of the Teruel coalfield (Spain) using Landsat time series and boosted regression trees.

Opencast mining is an activity that caters to many economic sectors; however, it has a large impact on society and the environment. After mining, the major concern is to restore the previous land cover, which was generally a natural vegetation cover. Establishing permanent vegetation cover can restore landscape connectivity and previous ecosystem functions, enhance aesthetic values and prevent off-side effects associated with post-mining landscapes.