Assessment of current state of conserved areas of mountain rocks in strip mining conditions

Abstract

In the conditions of the development of today´s mining industries, many coal mining enterprises (even though the production volumes are currently increasing) are looking for the ways to conserve previously mined areas and monitor their ecological state. The extraction of fossils from the depths of the earth produces natural and manmade complexes that have a considerable impact on vast territories. The largest impact lies in turning the lands for general use into commercial mining areas and land allocations. Open cut mining leads to the emergence of quarries, stopes and embankments of different sizes, changes in relevant and absolute elevation marks compared to the initial surface, which is connected with the construction of quarry dumping complexes. Direct dumping methods contribute to the formation of the system of narrow crests that are combined with leveled plateau-like parts of a spoil pile. The slopes of spoil piles have high angles of gradient (14-40°) and are subject to sheet and gully erosions which form large alluvial cones. Technogenic sediments formed at their bottom reach the height of several meters and spread up to a few hundred meters from the dumps. During coal mining, the rocks are stored in external and internal dumps of coal strip mines without any preliminary sorting, which also leads to soil and water pollution with heavy metals.