Climate, Environment, and Mining: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Applied Earth Sciences

The field of applied Earth sciences is witnessing rapidly intensifying interactions among climate change, environmental processes, and mining activities. Climate change is reshaping the risks and operational realities of mining regions by driving more frequent extreme weather, greater hydrological variability, increasing geohazards, and long-term ecological instability. Meanwhile, mining and resource extraction play a pivotal role in both supporting the global energy transition and exacerbating challenges such as land degradation, water stress, contamination, and loss of ecosystems. The rising importance of critical minerals and sustainable resource management in the low-carbon era further emphasizes the urgency to address these interconnected domains. Despite numerous advances in geological, environmental, and engineering sciences, significant gaps remain in understanding and managing the coupled impacts of climate and mining on fragile environments, resource-limited settings, and regional sustainability.This Research Topic aims to stimulate interdisciplinary research that bridges climate science, environmental change, and mining-related Earth systems. It seeks to advance integrative methodologies that combine insights from geology, hydrology, geochemistry, remote sensing, data science, environmental policy, and engineering, among others. By promoting the use of tools such as artificial intelligence, geospatial analytics, digital modeling, and comprehensive risk assessment, this Research Topic will illuminate new approaches to monitoring, prediction, impact evaluation, restoration, and decision support relevant to mining and resource-affected regions. The primary objective is to highlight practical, cross-sector, and methodological innovations that contribute to sustainability and resilience, especially in the face of climate-driven change.The scope of this Research Topic is focused on interdisciplinary advances that address the multifaceted challenges at the intersection of climate, environment, and mining within applied Earth sciences. Submissions should demonstrate clear methodological integration or practical implications for environmental management, climate adaptation, or sustainable mining. To gather further insights into how mining and climate interact within dynamic environmental systems, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Climate risks and adaptation strategies for mining and resource extraction regions• Environmental and ecological impacts of mining under changing climatic conditions• Critical minerals, energy transition, and approaches to sustainable resource development• Mine water management, soil contamination, pollution mitigation, and ecosystem restoration• Coupled geological, hydrological, and climatic processes in disturbed or post-mining landscapes• Applications of remote sensing, GIS, and geospatial analytics for climate–mining research• Use of artificial intelligence and data-driven methods in environmental monitoring and prediction• Risk assessment, early warning systems, and resilience planning for mining-related hazards• Innovations in carbon management, land rehabilitation, and post-mining sustainability• Policy frameworks, governance models, and science–industry collaborations in mining and climate adaptationWe invite submissions in the form of original research articles, reviews, and case studies. Articles should emphasize methodological innovation, data integration, or the practical value of interdisciplinary approaches for solving real-world problems at the intersection of climate, environment, and mining. Topic editors: Difei Zhao, Shaohua Lei, Nataliya Yurkevich, Milica Kasanin-Grubin Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80463/climate-environment-and-mining-interdisciplinary-approaches-in-applied-earth-sciences