Constructing ponds to protect downstream ecosystems is a common practice in opencast coal mine reclamation. As these ponds remain integrated in the landscape, it is important to evaluate the extent of the effect of mine pollution on these ecosystems. However, this point has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. The main objective of this work was to explore the metal pollution in m...

The evolving landscape of Harrison County, Ohio illustrates the interaction between increasing coal demand and modern mining technology upon the available resource base, as modified by changing reclamation policies and practices. A subsistance production period (before 1915) and an early commercial period (1916-1940) were followed by the high, but fluctuating, coal demands of the current commer...

A 5-yr study was conducted to measure the rates of recovery of fish and invertebrate communities following reclamation of a watershed impacted by an abandoned coal surface mine in Southwest Missouri. Quarterly monitoring of water quality information (pH, conductivity, and alkalinity) was conducted at 10 sites. Annual monitoring of biological (benthic invertebrate and fish community structure), ...

The Forestry Reclamation Approach uses uncompacted, mounded spoils to reforest mined-land and has been successful in hardwood forests in the Appalachian region. A surface coalmine reclamation site in the Pacific Northwest was used to compare the site’s standard reclamation approach (Reference) with a modified version of the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) along with a modified FRA treatment...

The National Energy Plan announced by President Carter on April 29, 1977 proposed a significant increase in the utilization of the vast domestic deposits of coal to replace the dwindling supplies of oil and natural gas, and increasingly expensive oil from foreign sources, to meet national energy needs. At the same time, in recognition of possible adverse health and ecological consequences of in...

Coal mining is inevitable for economic growth of a country, but at the same time deteriorates the quality of the environment. Open cast mine, especially affects the top soil most negatively. In the present study, soil samples from three representative areas of mining viz proposed, operational and abandoned sites from Charhi and Kuju of Jharkhand were collected and analysed for physicochemical p...

Significant alteration in the microbial community can occur across reclamation areas suffering subsidence from mining. A reclamation site undergoing fertilization practices and an adjacent coal-excavated subsidence site (sites A and B, respectively) were examined to characterize the bacterial diversity using 454 high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing. The dominant taxonomic groups in both the site...

The Development Plan of Taranto port (S. Italy) predicts the dredging of approx.20 Mt sediments, ≥10% of which are polluted. By appointment of Italian Environment Ministry, a detailed experimental investigation was carried out at laboratory and pilot-scale levels on the best available techniques to reclaim the polluted sediment so to reuse it in a technic and cost effective manner. A short pre-...