Deterioration of soil quality due to stockpiling in coal mining areas

Abstract

In the process of opencast mining, the area is to be stripped of vegetation to remove the overburden. Several changes occur in the physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soil as a result of mining and storage. One large opencast coal project of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) was investigated to assess the deterioration in soil quality. The study reveals a major qualitative deterioration in the excavated soil when dumped over a long period of time. This inability to preserve topsoil is one of the basic hindrances to restoration of mined land and overburden dumps. Hence the topsoil should be stockpiled only when it is impractical to redistribute promptly over the affected areas.