Abstract: This study aims to construct an assessment method on the damage to eco-environmental system in underground coal mining area based on the evaluation systems of geological environmental impact and land reclamation suitability. An underground coal mine in Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia was taken as the research area. The representative evaluation indicators were selected, the weight values of various indicators were calculated using the analytic hierarchy process, and the damage level was classified by comprehensive index method. The extent of the damage to the ecoenvironmental system in the study area was zoned using ArcGIS 10.3. We comprehensively considered the effective evaluation factors from the geological environmental impact and land reclamation suitability, and proposed a more comprehensive evaluation system for the ecoenvironment in the underground mining area. Based on the damage level, the whole study area was divided into severely damaged areas, moderately damaged areas, and slightly damaged areas. Some control measures targeted to different damage levels were proposed. This study proposed a new methodology for carrying out the damage assessment to eco-environmental system and provided scientific guidance for management and protection of ecoenvironment in underground mining areas.

Key words: underground coal mine area, eco-environmental system, damage assessment, analytic hierarchy process, comprehensive index method.