Post-mining Areas Research Articles

Post-mining areas as the last area for the expansion of the declining Siberian Winter damselfly (Odonata: Lestidae)

Post-mining areas as the last area for the expansion of the declining Siberian Winter damselfly (Odonata: Lestidae)

Planning Recreation around Water Bodies in Two Hard Coal Post-Mining Areas in Southern Poland

Green and blue infrastructure is a unique aspect of sustainable development in post-industrial and post-mining cities. The article examines the issue of the characteristic post-mining lake district in one of Europe’s largest urban and hard coal mining regions—the Katowice Conurbation in Southern Poland. This article aims to clarify the conditions and problems of developing post-mining water bodies as an element of blue and green infrastructure, with a particular focus on the issue of developing recreational functions. The latter aspect was analyzed using extensive CAVI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview)/CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) surveys conducted among residents, in-depth stakeholder interviews, and strategic and planning document analysis. This research confirmed that residents and local authorities treat post-mining reservoirs as necessary for creating green and blue infrastructure. Recreational functions were perceived as one of the elements of urban policy, in which the preservation of valuable ecosystems created around reservoirs has the same place. An essential element of the research findings is also the typology of post-mining reservoirs presented here, which allows for a better understanding of the development dilemmas of these areas in a highly urbanized and post-mining area.

Coal mining reclamation as an environmental recovery effort: a review

<p>The exploitation of natural resources remains a common practice in many countries to stimulate economic growth, and coal is the most commonly exploited resource. However, the mining process often causes environmental disturbance. Therefore, this research was conducted to analyze the ideal implementation of coal mine reclamation in Indonesia. In the post-mining area, the land is often arid, with voids that are prone to flood and erosion. The reclamation of this area is carried out by returning topsoil, adding organic material, and planting cover crops and fast-growing species. When the topographical conditions have steep slopes, scrap engineering is often added to hills up to a maximum height of 8 meters, trimming the slope with a maximum remaining slope of 35 degrees and making drainage channels with a width of more than 3 meters, a depth of more than 2 meters, and an edge slope of 2-5 percent. Approximately 70.59% of reclamation programs in Indonesia are aimed at reforesting mining areas into secondary forests because they were previously a forest ecosystem. The types of reclamation that had been carried out but were still uncommon included aquaculture, urban forests, parks playground, sports park, cattle farms, and fauna conservation ecotourism. A new approach to reclamation, such as eco-habitat, is important to obtain optimal social, economic, and ecological benefits. This approach involves optimizing sources of livelihood based on area rezoning according to the level of interference, revegetation of plants involving the community, and revitalization of sources of community livelihood, specifically environmental restoration with plant species as sources of food, nutrition, minerals, income, and non-timber forest products. Therefore, the reclamation program should be carried out through a collaborative partnership between companies, local communities, academics, technical ministries, and the media.</p>

Integrated Spatiotemporal Analysis of Vegetation Condition in a Complex Post-Mining Area: Lignite Mine Case Study

The motivation for this study arises from the need to monitor the condition of a rehabilitated post-mining areas even decades after the end of the recovery phase. This can be facilitated with satellite derived spectral vegetation indices and Geographic Information System (GIS) based spatiotemporal analysis. The study area described in this work is located in Western Poland and has unique characteristics, as it was subjected to the combined underground and open pit mining of lignite deposits that had been shaped by glaciotectonic processes. The mining ended in early 1970’ties and the area was subjected to reclamation procedures that ended in the 1980’ties. We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) spectral indices derived from Sentinel-2 data for the 2015–2022. period. Then, we applied a combination of GIS-based map algebra statistics (local, zonal and combinatorial) and GI* spatial statistics (hot spot and temporal hot spot) for a complex analysis and assessment of the vegetation cover condition in a post-mining area thought to be in the rehabilitated phase. The mean values of NDVI and EVI for the post-mining study area range from 0.48 to 0.64 and 0.24 to 0.31 and are stable in the analyzed 8 year period. This indicates general good condition of the vegetation and post-recovery phase of the area of interest. However, the combination of spatiotemporal analysis allowed us to identify statistically significant clusters of higher and lower values of the vegetation indices and change of vegetation cover classes on 3% of the study area. These clusters signify the occurrence of local processes such as, the encroachment of aquatic vegetation in waterlogged subsidence basins, and growth of low vegetation in old pits filled with waste material, barren earth zones on external waste dumps, as well as present-day forest management activities. We have confirmed that significant vegetation changes related to former mining occur even five decades later. Furthermore, we identified clusters of the highest values that are associated with zones of older, healthy forest and deciduous tree species. The results confirmed applicability of Sentinel-2 derived vegetation indices for studies of post-mining environment and for the detection of local phenomena related to natural landscaping processes still taking place in the study area. The methodology adopted for this study consisting of a combination of GIS-based data mining methods can be used in combination or separately in other areas of interest, as well as aid their sustainable management.

HALOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF SKIN DISEASES

Salt has been utilized for countless years in different regions worldwide for its health-promoting and therapeutic properties. Halotherapy is a dry salt therapy administered in settings with specialized equipment known as a halogenerator. In recent decades, halotherapy has gained the trust of an increasing number of people worldwide and spread rapidly throughout many countries. The positive effects of the treatment last longer than one year. Drug-free treatments for dermatoses and skin rejuvenation are gaining popularity in the health and beauty industry. Rehabilitative dermatology, cosmetic surgery, anti-ageing procedures, and detoxification regimens all use these techniques. Skin diseases are a significant public health issue that affects a large number of people all over the world. Halotherapy is the treatment of choice for some skin diseases due to the potential for combining it with additional physical forms of therapy as well as pharmacological therapies. The treatment’s minimal negative effects, combined with its delivery in a soothing setting, are beneficial to the mental and emotional health of both adults and kids. The re-profiling of post-mining areas benefits greatly from the growth of different kinds of mining tourism, including medical tourism. Even in today’s salt mining, which frequently combines conventional rock salt extraction with public access to the mine, these types of facilities remain popular. Halotherapy shows promise in treating a wide range of skin conditions thanks to the dry sodium chloride aerosol’s adaptable physiological effect. The healing and cosmetic effects of halotherapy on the skin have been confirmed by scientific studies, but despite the incontestable advantages of halotherapy, additional and more in-depth research on the curative effects of salt on a variety of skin conditions is currently required. The halocomplex serves as the foundation for this technological platform.This article aims to demonstrate the advantages of halotherapy as a complementary therapy for certain skin diseases and discusses the distinction between halotherapy and salt therapy, the technology behind halotherapy, the different application methods, its health benefits in dermatology, the most common indications for using halotherapy in skin treatment and cosmetology programs, the most common skin diseases that it can be used to treat, certain contraindications, as well as the possible negative effects of using halotherapy.

Productivity and economic effectiveness of young black locust tree stands on afforested sulphur opencast mine sites

Abstract The correct selection of the species composition of afforestation in relation to the habitat conditions has a decisive impact on the effects of forest reclamation. In most of the reclaimed forestry areas in Poland, the stands enter the prelogging period, and it is possible to assess the first economic and production effects of reclamation. The assessment was made based on the analysis of the size of the harvested wood during the intermediate cutting on the heap of the former ‘Piaseczno’ opencast sulphur mine located in southern Poland and managed by the State Forests. At this stage of development, Robinia pseudoacacia played a large role in obtaining a good income from the sale of intermediate cutting wood and economic effects. The obtained results may be important in the context of indicating alternative directions for reclamation and afforestation of post-mining areas, e.g., for plantation purposes.

Effects of post-mining forest restoration and alternative land uses on ground-dwelling arthropods in Ghana

In an Afrotropical region experiencing massive deforestation, restoration approaches should provide sustainable solutions for recovering biodiversity. Arthropods are a sensitive taxonomic group for habitat alteration by deforestation and can be good indicators for restoration studies. Ground-dwelling arthropods provide important ecosystem functions, such as predation or organic matter decomposition, thereby contributing to ecosystem functionality. The consequences of post-mining management on arthropods in the Afrotropical region remain understudied. We carried out a comprehensive sampling of ground-dwelling arthropods in the dry and wet seasons across four land-use types in the semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana. We then analysed whether the specific tree communities, vegetation structure and seasonal differences affected arthropod communities in the restored post-mining forest compared to the dominant alternative land-use type (agroforestry plantation), a natural reference (natural forest) or an unmanaged former mining area (gravel mine). In total, 43,364 arthropods were sampled and assigned to 78 taxonomic groups representing 14 order/sub-order, 28 beetle families, 25 spider families, 5 hunting guilds of spiders and 6 trophic groups of beetles. Overall, Araneae, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera all had higher activity densities in the wet season. The vegetation structure of the three land-use types with trees supported a greater overall activity density of arthropods and a more diverse functional composition compared to the unmanaged gravel site. Pronounced variation between the dry and wet seasons further influenced the taxonomic and functional composition. The active forest restoration of this post-mining area is a promising approach to drive arthropod communities towards a comparable state observed in the natural forest.

Changes in Physical and Water Retention Properties of Technosols by Agricultural Reclamation with Wheat–Rapeseed Rotation in a Post-Mining Area of Central Poland

During opencast lignite mining, the natural landscape is damaged, along with soils, and new anthropogenic landforms are created which require reclamation. Usually, the evaluation of the effects of reclamation (mostly forestry) is concerned with changes in chemical properties in the first years, mainly in the surface horizon. This study analyzed the effect of long-term agricultural reclamation (43 years) on the physical and water retention properties of Technosols. The experiment involved cultivation of winter wheat and winter oilseed rape under 3 fertilization variants. After 43 years, an Ap horizon (Ap1 and Ap2) developed in fertilized Technosols, but was not clearly formed in unfertilized minesoil. In Ap1, there was improvement in the physical quality (S), bulk density (BD), particle density (PD), structural stability index (SI), soil porosity (SP), air-filled porosity (AFP), field capacity (FC) and plant available water capacity (PAWC). In Ap2, properties were comparable to those in the surface horizon of unfertilized Technosols and to those observed before reclamation. Regardless of fertilization, there was deterioration in physical quality in parent materials. In general, the properties of fertilized Technosols have improved in the surface horizons, but increasing fertilization above plant requirements does not lead to their further enhancement.

From a mining town to a town of industrial multinationals: Explaining transformation through human agency and mining assets

The article examines the transformation of a mining town to an industrial powerhouse by focusing on relations between specific agents and assets in the community. The objectives of this research are 1) to outline how human agency in a mining town mediated key transformation events, 2) to identify skills or specific capabilities of these agents which enacted changes, and 3) to recognize which (mining-related) assets were used or altered in the process. We take a closer look at Idrija, a former mercury mining town in Slovenia that has been transformed into a successful industrial town, also home to two multinational firms. The study is based on desk-based research, 12 semi-structured interviews with key agents and thematic interview analysis. We discover that the transformation of Idrija has been a gradual process, spanning four decades and consisting of several critical junctures where different types of human agency were required to make changes to existing mining assets. Interpersonal and institutional trust, loyalty, paternalism of incumbent firms, strategic thinking of agents, external market orientation and smallness are some of the soft assets that have proven time and again to be crucial for human agency at critical junctures. These soft assets, especially in institutionally thick post-mining areas, could become a tool for designing visions for the future, matching the expectations and capabilities of mining communities.

The Influence of Sewage Sludge Composts on the Enzymatic Activity of Reclaimed Post-Mining Soil

Mining leads to serious degradation of the ecological values of the landscape. After mining is completed, degraded areas should be reclamated in order to mitigate the destructive effects of mining activities. Effective reclamation aims to initiate soil-forming processes. The paper evaluates the effects of land reclamation in post-mining areas 12 to 14 years after the reclamation process. The assessment was based on a determination of the activity of selected enzymes. Municipal sewage sludge compost (SSC) and compost with a composition of 70% municipal sewage sludge + 30% fly ash (SSFAC) were used as an external source of organic matter in the reclamation. The activity of dehydrogenases, phosphatases, and urease was determined. The fertilization of reclaimed soil with compost caused a significant increase in the activity of the assessed enzymes. Significantly higher dehydrogenase activity was found in the soil treated with SSC. The soil treated with SSFAC was characterized by higher activity of phosphatase and urease. The one-time application of composts from sewage sludge and sludge with fly ash, and the introduction of a mixture of grasses, allow for a permanent reclamation effect. An additional ecological advantage of this reclamation model is waste management, which is part of the circular economy strategy.

Analysis of Post-Mining Vegetation Development Using Remote Sensing and Spatial Regression Approach: A Case Study of Former Babina Mine (Western Poland)

The vegetation of the post-mining areas is subject to constant and significant changes. Reclamation works, carried out after the cessation of mineral extraction, contribute to the intensive development of new plant species. However, secondary deformations, occurring even many years after the end of exploitation, may cause the degradation of the vegetation cover. It is, therefore, an important issue to identify changes in flora conditions and to determine whether and to what extent past mining has a negative impact on the plant cover state. The objectives of this research have been as follows: (1) analysis of the flora condition in the post-mining area in the 1989–2019 period, (2) identification of sites with significant changes in vegetation state, and (3) modeling of the relationship between the identified changes in vegetation and former mining activities. The research was carried out in the area of the former opencast and underground lignite mine “Friendship of Nations—Babina Shaft,” which is located in the present-day Geopark (Western Poland), using Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI derived vegetation indices (NDVI, NDII, MTVI2) and GIS-based spatial regression. The results indicate a general improvement in flora condition, especially in the vicinity of post-mining waste heaps and former opencast excavations, with the exception of the northwestern part of the former mining field where the values of all of the analyzed vegetation indices have decreased. Also, four zones of statistically significant changes in the flora condition were identified. Finally, the developed GWR models demonstrate that former mining activities had a significant influence on changes in the plant cover state of the analyzed region.

Response of plant element traits to soil arsenic stress and its implications for vegetation restoration in a post-mining area

The ecological environment in mining area is fragile, and the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content of dominant plants is closely related to plant nutrient limitation, community composition and ecosystem function. Clarifying the response of dominant plants to soil properties and the corresponding trade-off mechanism are essential for rebuilding the ecological resilience and self-sustaining ability of mining areas. In order to explore the response of dominant plant element traits to soil physico-chemical properties under the stress of soil arsenic (As) pollution, an abandoned metal mining area threatened by heavy soil As pollution was selected as the research area, the soil physico-chemical properties and soil As content in different speciation, and the contents of C, N and P in dominant plants were measured. The results showed that: (1) The soil As pollution was serious in the mining area, while the contents of soil nutrient were relatively low. (2) The soil As content in different speciation affected the absorption and utilization of P by plants. (3) The dominant plants responded to soil As toxicity by allocating more nutrients to leaves to reduce toxicity and ensure growth. This study helps to reveal the nutrient driving law of plant diversity processes and community succession in heavy metal-contaminated sites and is of great significance to restore the fragile ecosystems in mining areas.

Assessment of the Condition of Soils before Planned Hard Coal Mining in Southern Poland: A Starting Point for Sustainable Management of Fossil Fuel Resources

In Poland’s largest mining district, the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, there is a growing interest in resource development by small operators. Some concession areas are not yet directly affected by the mining industry. The objects of this research are two such areas and the goal is to determine a load of heavy metals (HM) in soils prior to mining projects and to assess the extent of their contamination at this stage. The metals studied were Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn, while HM contamination was assessed using the Contamination Factor (CF), Contamination Degree (CD), Pollution Load Index (PLI), and Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo). The Ecological Risk Potential Index (ER) and Comprehensive Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) were also employed. The pre-mining areas are close to an area where mining was terminated before 2000. For this area, we performed the same set of analyses as for the pre-mining areas studied. HM concentration levels and pollution indices in post-mining areas are significantly higher than in pre-mining areas. The results obtained in the post-mining area give an idea of the expected type and scale of potential threat to soils from mining and can form the basis for monitoring environmental contamination in subsequent investment and operation phases, as well as help develop and implement timely methods to prevent the increase in heavy metal immission to soils during mining activities. We believe that the presented approach of assessing the condition of soils starting at the pre-mining stage can support the sustainable management of energy resources in the cases studied and elsewhere.

Just transition as a tool for energy poverty alleviation in post mining areas

Just transition as a tool for energy poverty alleviation in post mining areas

Revealing the long-term behaviour of nZVI and biochar in metal(loid)-contaminated soil: focus on Fe transformations

Immobilisation of Zn, Pb, Cd, and As was achieved in smelting-affected soil showing changes over time. The oxidation of Fe0 was not directly proportional with time.

Growth and Timber Quality of European Larch Planted in Areas Reclaimed After Coal Mining in Central Poland

Understanding the impact of reclamation measures on the quality of timber produced in post-mining areas is crucial for the proper establishment of future forest cultures on such sites. We studied European larch trees (Larix decidua Mill.) grown since 1981 on the external dump of a brown coal mine in Bełchatów (Central Poland). In particular, the effects of stand admixture and the intensity of mineral fertilization, applied in the initial phase of tree growth, on the increments and quality of larch wood were evaluated. Total tree height and stem diameter of 4-meter sections were measured. Qualitative timber classification took into account the share of wood defects, which excluded the timber from a higher quality-dimensional class. Larch trees grown in a monoculture had a better quality of wood compared to larch grown mixed with other species. Fertilization, applied in the initial afforestation period, had only a limited effect on the growth of larch trees. Curvature and knots determined timber quality most significantly. While knots had a decisive importance in larch growing in the monoculture stands, curvature determined wood quality in the admixed larch stands.

The geoelectric approach to analyzing the profile of post-mining nickel laterite deposits in the Motui District, North Konawe Regency, Indonesia

The profile of laterite nickel deposits following mining operations can be determined using a geoelectric method, which is crucial information for exploration as well as sustainability. The purpose of this research is to ascertain the physical properties and thickness profile of laterite nickel deposits in the subsurface following mining. The geoelectric method used is resistivity to map variations in the apparent resistivity values of rocks. This value reflects the different types of rock layers in the subsurface. Through the use of two electrodes, an electric current was introduced into the earth, and the potential difference that resulted from this injection was then measured. Based on the configuration of the electrodes utilized, the apparent resistivity value can be determined. The profile of laterite nickel deposits in the Motui post-mining area includes three layers, red limonite, yellow limonite, and bedrock, with resistivity values ranging from 17.0 to 1572 Ωm. The resistivity of the red limonite layer ranges from 17.0 to 1572 Ωm, and its depth is 0 to 10 meters. The yellow limonite layer is between 10 and 20 meters thick and has a resistivity range of 17.0 to 31.8 m. The resistivity of bedrock, on the other hand, ranges from 84.2 to 1572 Ωm at depths between 20 and 70 meters.

Diversity and Succession of Perennial Trees in the Rehabilitation Areas of a Limestone Mine, Saraburi Province, Thailand

This study aimed to investigate the structure and composition of plant community to i) identify tree species that can colonize, grow, and form communities and ii) identify species under natural succession whose seedlings can be used in forest rehabilitation. Experimental plots of size 40 m × 40 m were established in 13-, 10-, and 5-year-old rehabilitation areas (13YRA, 10YRA, and 5YRA), where characterized as flatted, sloped, and benched areas, respectively. The survey found 24 genera, 12 families, and 25 species of plants. Plant species that were found in all plots were Zollingeria dongnaiensis Pierre., Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz., Albizia lebbek (L.) Benth., and Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) which can potentially grow well in several conditions of post-mining areas. The 13YRA plot had the most significant number of naturally regenerating species (11 species) as the area was next to a natural forest or buffer zone and had been under restoration for the most prolonged period. The community succession of the rehabilitation plots relative to the natural forest was relatively slow. Nonetheless, the pioneer species can help to improve the environmental factors to optimum levels for the natural succession of the plant community. This can also be useful while selecting pioneer species for restoring areas previously used for limestone mining and help reduce the time for succession in terms of increasing the species composition.

Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in asphalt post-mining land in Buton Island, Indonesia

Abstract. Tuheteru FD, Husna, Albasri, Effendy HM, Arif A, Basrudin, Tuheteru EJ, Mulyono S, Irianto RSB. 2022. Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in asphalt post-mining land in Buton Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 6327-6334. Studies on the presence and diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) on overburden (OB) and asphalt post-mining areas in Buton Island are still limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the presence and diversity of AMF on OB and asphalt post-mining stockpiles in Buton Island, Southeast Sulawesi Province. The sampling of soil and roots of successional plants was carried out at eight post-mining sites at the IUP Kabungka (Pasarwajo) (6 sites) PT. WIKA Aspal and IUP Lawele (2 sites), PT. WIKA Bitumen. The AMF spores were isolated using the wet filter pour method, followed by the identification of AMF which was done by observing the morphology of AMF spores. The results showed that all successional plants were in symbiosis with AMF, which was indicated by the existence of AMF structure in plant roots with the percentage of AMF colonization ranging from 5 - 95%. The number of spores per 50 g ranged from 1 to 9 spores. A total of 9 AMF species were found to belong to five genera, i.e., Claroideoglomus, Haloatospora, Glomus, Gigaspora, and Cetraspora from three families. Claroideoglomus claroideum was found to be the most dominant species isolated with the high occurrence and the highest Importance and Shannon-Wiener Diversity Indices followed by Haloatospora cf. pansihalos, Glomus sp. 5, and Glomus sp. 4. This study also showed that the AMF diversity index differed among locations. The presence of AMF can accelerate the emergence and development of adaptive plants on post-asphalt mining land in Buton Island.

How Important Are the Relations between Vegetation Diversity and Bacterial Functional Diversity for the Functioning of Novel Ecosystems?

Understanding ecosystem development of post-mining areas requires observing the development of the plant and microbial communities. It is widely known that mutual interaction is important for both of these groups, and both benefit significantly. The aim of this study was to broaden the knowledge about the relation between the vegetation and functional diversity of bacterial communities in novel ecosystems of post-mining areas and to discuss the potential applicability of methods of studies of bacterial functional diversity in these ecosystems with special attention paid to the BIOLOG method. The functional diversity of microbial communities of five types of microhabitats of post-coal mining heap (Upper Silesia, Poland) was studied using the BIOLOG method. Four of them were covered by spontaneously developed vegetation (two dominated by grasses Calamagrostis epigejos and Poa compressa and two others by dicotyledonous species Daucus carota and Tussilago farfara). The results obtained for vegetated microhabitats were compared with the diversity of microbial communities from non-vegetated types of microhabitat. Our study confirmed that microbial functional diversity measured by the summed area under the curve for all substrates, the richness index, the Shannon-Wiener index and the evenness index mirrors aboveground vegetation diversity. All of these measures differ, especially between non-vegetated patches and grassland patches dominated by C. epigejos and P. compressa.