Efficiency of Vegetative Reclamation of Coal Spoil Heaps

Coal spoil-heaps cause man-made pressure on the environment of the coal mining area. Coal mining, and in recent years the mass closure of mines, have been accompanied by a negative impact on natural objects and engineering structures; the basements of houses and buildings are flooded, walls and wooden fences rot, crops, trees and bushes are destroyed. Reclamation is carried out on spoil-heaps of coal mines to reduce the man-made pressure. However, in the process of rock dumping on the spoil-heaps ,a neorelief begins to emerge causing the vegetation development. The emergence of vegetation groups is a positive phenomenon, as phytomass decomposition promotes the formation of humus. The development of vegetation on the surface of coal spoil-heaps is called vegetative reclamation or phytomelioration. The efficiency of vegetative reclamation is calculated in points and is an indicator of the suitability of a particular man-made object for natural overgrowth. The aim of the work was to establish the features of spatial arrangement of plants in populations on the surface of coal spoil-heaps. It was established that on the coal spoil-heaps, as well as under natural conditions, vegetation tends to aggregate, thus forming phytogenic fields. It should be noted that at different stages of successions, phytogenic fields are formed in different ways. A monocentric phytogenic field arises on the waste heaps during the syngenetic stage of succession. The initial endecogenetic stage of succession provides the formation of phytogenic fields of two types. The first type is the initial polycentric phytogenic field. It is characterized by the ability to combine several individuals of the same species. The second type is a mature polycentric phytogenic field. It is characterized by higher resistance, and plant community is already able to convert geoprocesses. The mature endoecogenic stage of succession is characterized by the development and expansion of tree species, and the phytogenic field is acentric and global. This kind of phytogenic fields is found on tailings with artificial vegetative reclamation.