Spatiotemporal Impact of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Activity on Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics in Du, Jos South, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47514/kjg.2026.08.01.034Keywords:
Land Use Land Cover, Artisanal and Small-scale Mining, Random Forest Classification, Nearest Neighbor Analysis, Spatiotemporal AnalysisAbstract
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a primary driver of spatiotemporal land use/land cover (LULC) change in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet longitudinal multi-temporal mapping at the community scale remains limited. This study quantifies 15-year (2010–2025) LULC dynamics and the spatial distribution of ASM activities in Du Area, Jos South, Plateau State, using Landsat 7 ETM (2010 at 30 m) and Sentinel-2 MSI (2015, 2020, and 2025 at 10 m) imagery. A random forest supervised classifier in the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) v8.5.0 was used with eight classes: water bodies, abandoned mining pits, natural vegetation, irrigated cropland, bare cropland, built-up areas, and bare soil, while the nearest neighbour analysis was used to determine the spatial distribution. The MOLUSCE plugin was used to generate a complete 8×8 transition matrix across all 64 class land cover classes, including active ASM. Results reveal that active ASM expanded 348.01% from 107.76 ha (2010) to 482.76 ha (2025), with the most significant growth between 2015 and 2020 (+300.84 ha, +220.7%). Irrigated cropland declined 62.7% (326.24 ha), the built-up area contracted 28.2% (545.40 ha), bare soil was depleted 84.3% (396.72 ha), and 86.20 ha of water-filled legacy pits persist as an unclaimed public health hazard. NNA confirmed strong and consistent ASM clustering across all four periods (2025: NNI = 0.6519, z = −34.20, p < 0.001; observed mean inter-site distance 72.22 m). The study reveals that Du is undergoing intensifying spatial environmental degradation driven by unregulated ASM expansion.
References
Adeyemi, O., & Olagunju, T. (2015). Risk perception in a southwestern mining community in Nigeria. Journal of Environmental Management and Safety, 6(1), 1–12.
Anderson, J. R., Hardy, E. E., Roach, J. T., & Witmer, R. E. (1976). A land use and land cover classification system for use with remote sensor data (USGS Professional Paper 964). United States Geological Survey
Bala, A., Garba, S., & Adewuyi, T. (2021). Geospatial analyses of mining-induced land degradation sites in Jos South Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria. Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352771455
Congedo, L. (2021). Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin: A Python tool for the download and processing of remote sensing images in QGIS. Journal of Open-Source Software, 6(64), 3172. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.03172
Couttenier, M., Rollo, S. Di, Inguere, L., Mohand, M., & Schmidt, L. (2022). Mapping artisanal and small-scale mines at a large scale from space with deep learning. PLoS ONE, 17(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267963
Fonseca, A., Marshall, M. T., & Salama, S. (2024). Enhanced detection of artisanal small-scale mining with spectral and textural segmentation of Landsat time series. Remote Sensing, 16(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16101749
Gligor, V., Nicula, E. A., & Cretan, R. (2024). The identification, spatial distribution, and reconstruction mode of abandoned mining areas. Land, 13(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/land13071107
Gospel, C., Rachael, C., Ulunma, O., Christian, C., Ogechi, C., Uzoamaka, F., & Gabriel, C. (2020). Assessment of trace metals contamination on soil from abandoned artisanal tin mining paddock in Barkin-Ladi Area of Plateau State. International Journal of Advanced Academic Research, 11. https://doi.org/10.46654/ij.24889849
Kumi-Boateng, B., & Stemn, E. (2020). Spatial analysis of artisanal and small-scale mining in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of Ghana. Ghana Mining Journal, 20(1), 66–74. https://doi.org/10.4314/gm.v20i1.8
Mafuyai, G. M., Ayuba, & Zang, C. U. (2020). Physico-chemical characteristics of tin mining pond water used for irrigation in Plateau State, Central Nigeria. Open Journals Nigeria. www.openjournalsnigeria.org.ng
Merem, E. C., Twumasi, Y., Wesley, J., Isokpehi, P., Shenge, M., Fageir, S., Crisler, M., Romorno, C., Hines, A., Hirse, G., Ochai, S., Leggett, S., & Nwagboso, E. (2017). Assessing the ecological effects of mining in West Africa: The case of Nigeria. International Journal of Mining Engineering and Mineral Processing, 6(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.mining.20170601.01
Muromba, T. G., & Xu, L. (2024). A GIS and remote sensing approach in assessing impacts of mining in Chegutu District, Zimbabwe. OALib, 11(12), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1112635
Nava, L., Cuevas, M., Meena, S. R., Catani, F., & Monserrat, O. (2022). Artisanal and small-scale mine detection in semi-desert areas by an improved U-Net. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 19. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2022.3220487
Ndace, J. S., & Danladi, M. H. (2012). Impacts of derived tin mining activities on land use/land cover in Bukuru, Plateau State, Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(5). https://doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v5n5p90
Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). (2023). Annual Climate Review Report. NIMET, Abuja, Nigeria.
NPC. (2024). Du Ward population estimate. NPC Plateau State Office, Ref. No. NPC/PL/CEN/24/VOL.I/72.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Emmanuel Tsenkus (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
