Study on Vegetation Recovery of Gas Fields in Sichuan Province, China

Many gas fields are located in China. During the exploitation and transport of gas, environmental effects are unavoidable. In order to analyse the vegetation recovery of gas field in Sichuan Province, the vegetation growth in gas field and around the gas field (undisturbed field) was investigated via plot survey. The vegetation diversity, biomass and recovery period in gas field and undisturbed field were compared. The results showed that (1) recovered gas fields were dominated by grass species, (2) the full recovery of biomass and vegetation coverage requires 3 to 5 years, and (3) the recovery of species diversity takes more than 7 years. This research is beneficial for the environmental restoration of gas fields in southwest China.