Kemerovo, Kemerovo, Russian Federation
Kemerovo, Russian Federation
Reclamation of disturbed lands restores the post-mining ecosystem and land use. It is an essential stage of any mining operation. The appropriate reclamation strategy improves the speed and effectiveness of soil reclamation. For instance, the soil thickness and the bioactivation method determine the effectiveness of plant reclamation on depleted open-pit coal mines. This three-year field experiment (2023–2025) focused on an open-pit coal mine wasteland in the Kemerovo Region, Russia. It involved three types of experimental plots that simulated different reclamation approaches: humus-producing technosol, lithogenic technosol, and initial embryozem. Each plot was planted with trees, shrubs, and grass. The survival of woody plants was assessed visually, with mortality and survival criteria recorded. The grass cover status was assessed by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), obtained from aerial photography and processed in Agisoft Metashape Professional. The biopreparation included a consortium of Bacillus subtilis strains selected for high antioxidant and phytohormonal activity, which demonstrated the greatest stimulating effect on grass seed germination. The effectiveness of the biopreparation depended significantly on the substrate conditions. The humus-rich technosol failed to improve the biopreparation: the survival rate of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L., 1753) was 66.7%, which was below the control (85.3%). The lithogenic technosol had a species-specific effect: the survival rate of pyramidal poplar (Populus nigra L., 1753) reached 100.0% while that of blue honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica L., 1753) dropped to 63.6% by 2025 versus 84.1% in the control. The embryozem demonstrated the lowest results: the survival rate for black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott, 1821) was 52.9% versus the initial 70.6%. The projective grass cover reached 100.0% by 2024 on all three plots but was much lower during the first year. The biopreparation failed to become a universal solution, and its effectiveness depended on the type of soil substrate and plant species. It proved rather effective for lithogenic technosols of intermediate fertility. However, its use seems impractical under optimal conditions and even inhibiting under extreme conditions.
Land reclamation, biopreparation, technosol, microbial consortia, plant survival, projective cover, NDVI, coal mine, phytoremediation, technogenic substrate
1. Stepanyuk GYa, Zaushintsena AV, Burenkov SS, Svirkova SV, Gavrilov AA, et al. Evaluating the vegetation development of coal-mine dumps. Food Processing: Techniques and Technology. 2022;52(4):807–818. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2074-9414-2022-4-2407
2. Asyakina LK, Vorob'eva EE, Proskuryakova LA, Zharko MYu. Evaluating extremophilic microorganisms in industrial regions. Foods and Raw Materials. 2023;11(1):162–171. https://doi.org/10.21603/2308-4057-2023-1-556
3. Osintseva MA, Dyukova EA, Ulyanova EG, Osintsev AM. Heavy metals accumulation in plants during coal mine reclamation. Food Processing: Techniques and Technology. 2024;54(4):897–908. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2074-9414-2024-4-2551
4. Hu J, Zhu S, Yang K, Ren Y, Zhang Z, et al. Effects of different reclaimed mine land use patterns on the soil properties and water infiltration of opencast coal mines in the northern Loess Plateau, China. Catena. 2024;243:108193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2024.108193
5. Čížková B, Woš B, Pietrzykowski M, Frouz J. Development of soil chemical and microbial properties in reclaimed and unreclaimed grasslands in heaps after opencast lignite mining. Ecological Engineering. 2018;123:103–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.09.004
6. Pratiwi, Narendra BH, Siregar CA, Turjaman M, Hidayat A, et al. Managing and reforesting degraded post-mining landscape in Indonesia: A Review. Land. 2021;10(6):658. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10060658
7. Tu C, Wei J, Guan F, Liu Y, Sun Y, et al. Biochar and bacteria inoculated biochar enhanced Cd and Cu immobilization and enzymatic activity in a polluted soil. Environment International. 2020;137:105576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105576
8. Prach K, Pyšek P. Using spontaneous succession for restoration of human-disturbed habitats: Experience from Central Europe. Ecological Engineering. 2001;17(1):55–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-8574(00)00132-4
9. Visconti D, Álvarez-Robles MJ, Fiorentino N, Fagnano M, Clemente R. Use of Brassica juncea and Dactylis glomerata for the phytostabilization of mine soils amended with compost or biochar. Chemosphere. 2020;260:127661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127661
10. Guo J, Zhang Y, Huang H, Yang F. Deciphering soil bacterial community structure in subsidence area caused by underground coal mining in arid and semiarid area. Applied Soil Ecology. 2021;163:103916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.103916
