Efficiency of Vegetative Reclamation of Coal Spoil Heaps

Abstract

Coal spoil-heaps cause man-made pressure on the environment of the coal mining area. Coal mining, and in recent years the mass closure of mines, have been accompanied by a negative impact on natural objects and engineering structures; the basements of houses and buildings are flooded, walls and wooden fences rot, crops, trees and bushes are destroyed. Reclamation is carried out on spoil-heaps of coal mines to reduce the man-made pressure. However, in the process of rock dumping on the spoil-heaps ,a neorelief begins to emerge causing the vegetation development. The emergence of vegetation groups is a positive phenomenon, as phytomass decomposition promotes the formation of humus. The development of vegetation on the surface of coal spoil-heaps is called vegetative reclamation or phytomelioration. The efficiency of vegetative reclamation is calculated in points and is an indicator of the suitability of a particular man-made object for natural overgrowth. The aim of the work was to establish the features of spatial arrangement of plants in populations on the surface of coal spoil-heaps. It was established that on the coal spoil-heaps, as well as under natural conditions, vegetation tends to aggregate, thus forming phytogenic fields. It should be noted that at different stages of successions, phytogenic fields are formed in different ways.