Abstract: As a major component of regional physical environment, topographical fluctuation and change characters directly affect the material transportation, energy allocation, landscape, land utilization and agricultural production of land surface.Using the DEM data of 1∶2 000 scale, and based on the digital terrain analysis, a contrastive research was conducted on the change in height-area, landform aspect and landform slope between the original and manmade padding landforms in Pingshuo opencast coal mining area, which was formed due to intensified artificial activities of 'stripping- disposal- land building'.The research indicates that: ①the land area of the same slope has changed obviously.That is, the area of the manmade padding landform with a slope lower than 6° is 326.59 hm² more than its original counterpart, while for that with a slope greater than 15°, the amount is increased to 502.15 hm².②The land area of the same aspect has also changed.The area of manmade padding landform of shady and semishady slopes is 188.13 hm² more than the original, while that of sunny slope is 152.88 hm² less than its original counterpart.③The height-surface area has changed.At the same height, the manmade padding landform has larger surface area than the original, with the differences being most remarkable at the height of 1 475 m, 1 425 m and 1 350 m.

Key words: Open-cast mining Area, DEM, Digital terrain analysis, Landform change