ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF THE COAL MINING INDUSTRY ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL SITUATION IN TECHNOLOGICALLY LOADED REGIONS

Abstract

Mining regions, and especially coal mining regions, are defined by the irreversible transformation of natural ecosystems, where their degradation is clearly visible. Masses of rocks brought to the surface and newly formed forms (voids) in the upper layers of the lithosphere create a technogenic geological environment. Technogenesis in the geological environment acquires the scale of a geological process, which can be compared with natural geological phenomena. The maximum anthropogenic load due to the high development of the mining industry and the formation of technogenic landscapes is observed within the Donetsk and Lviv-Volyn coal basins and the Dnipro lignite basin. Coal mining areas, which are located in the western, eastern and central parts of Ukraine, are natural and anthropogenic systems that actively affect the environment, filling with the remains of the destruction of terricone rocks that spread with the help of water currents and wind. At the root of the emergence of most environmental problems in the coal-mining regions of Ukraine are technogenic changes in the main groups of factors: engineering-geological, geochemical, hydrogeological, and biological. Forecasting the possibility of restoration of man-made geological environment in coal-mining areas, under the influence of natural and man-made factors, is necessary to ensure geo-ecological safety and public health safety. In order to preserve the ecologically safe state of the man-made geological environment of coal-mining regions, it is necessary to systematically carry out: regulation of nature use, ecological monitoring and restoration of landscapes (parks, recreational areas or agricultural coal) in the newly created terrain.