Design of self-sustainable land surface against soil erosion at rehabilitation areas in open-cut mines in tropical regions

Abstract

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental problems in open-cut mines in tropical regions. It causes negative impacts including the removal of nutrient rich topsoil and subsequent reduction of agricultural productivity in the rehabilitation process. Therefore, it is important to predict soil erosion in advance and establish the proper process to minimise the phenomenon for the success of rehabilitation in the disturbed land. Field investigation to understand soil characteristics in rehabilitation areas and artificial rainfall experiment in laboratory scales were used to assess soil erosion. From a series of investigations, the soil characteristics that spread to the rehabilitation areas were uneven due to mixing overburden as contamination; moreover, it can increase the risk of soil erosion when the soil has high soil erodibility. Another study finding shows the importance of selective placement of erosion-resistant soil in an area which has a high potential for soil erosion to occur, such as slope with an establishment of rapid growing cover crop species on the surface. This paper describes soil erosion under the various soil characteristics and effective countermeasures in situ, and discusses the design of the self-sustainable land surface against soil erosion.