Dec., 2012 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.3 No.

4
J. Resour. Ecol. 2012 3 (4) 289-296
Article
DOI:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2012.04.001
www.jorae.cn

Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mine Land in China

HU Zhenqi*, WANG Peijun and LI Jing

Institute of Land Reclamation and Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: Mining activities produced a lot of abandoned mine land. This paper introduced the theoretical
and technical progress of ecological restoration of surface coal mines, mining subsidence land and coal
waste piles in China and discussed some key problems for research in the future. Ecological restoration
of abandoned mine land was related to many disciplines, and multi-disciplinary theories might make great
contributes to it. Some practical techniques of ecological restoration of abandoned mine land and their
demonstration bases in China were introduced. Ecosystem succession process and mechanism, structure
optimization of land use and new technologies of ecological restoration of abandoned mine land should be
focused on in research activities.

Key words: abandoned mine land; ecological restoration; surface coal mine; mining subsidence land; coal
waste piles

resources economically and achieve harmony between

1 Introduction people and land in mining area. In our country, large-scale
Mineral resources are essential materials of industrial and and organized ecological restoration in mining area began
agricultural production and socio-economic development. in the 1980s. So far, significant progress has been achieved
More than 95% of primary energy, 80% of industrial raw in the ecological restoration of mining subsidence land,
materials, 70% of agricultural production materials are excavated land and occupied land and other fields, providing
from mining industry, which has become important basic a theoretical basis for the government to formulate and
industry of the national economy in China (Wu et al. 2009). implement environment protection strategy in mining area.
The exploitation of mineral resources not only provided At the same time, also providing technical countermeasures
the energy and raw materials for the development of the for coal enterprises to implement the ecological restoration of
national economy, but also caused the destruction of land abandoned mine land. The theoretical and technical progress
and ecological environment such as land subsidence, solid of ecological restoration of surface coal mines, mining
waste and geological disasters; in the western ecological subsidence land and coal waste piles in China are reviewed
fragile area, coal mining also resulted in the intensifies of and key problems in the future are preliminarily prospected
soil erosion and depletion of groundwater resources; the in this paper.
toxic gases produced by the spontaneous combustion of the
coal gangue and the harmful substance leached from the coal 2 Theoretical progress of ecological
gangue jointly polluted the air, water and soil in the mining restoration of abandoned mine land
area, bringing serious harm to the industrial and agricultural Abandoned mine land referred to the land that were
production and people’s lives (Peng 2009). destroyed in the mining process and could not be used
The problems of land and ecological environment in without restoration or the land use function declined,
mining area are related to the sustainable development including the open pit, waste dump, tailings pond, subsidence
of mining and society, and are also closely related to the land and the land that lost economic value in use caused by
pressing issues named “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” heavy-metal contamination (Xian et al. 2009).
and “mining, mine, miners, mining town”. Land reclamation The ecological restoration of abandoned mine land was
and ecological restoration is an effective way to use land a complex system engineering problem, which was related

Received: 2012-09-07 Accepted: 2012-11-14

Foundation: National Twelve Five-year Plan Science and Technology Program (2012BAC04B03).
* Corresponding author: HU Zhenqi. Email: huzqbj@yahoo.com.cn.
290 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.3 No.4, 2012

to many disciplines, such as ecology, geology, mining,

soil, crop cultivation, forestry, environment, aesthetics, 3 Ecological restoration of abandoned mine
agronomy, geography, land and so on. The domestic early land caused by surface mining
research of land reclamation laid emphasis on engineering 3.1 Impact mechanism of surface mining to the
design and relatively lacked of research in the theories. ecological environment
Hu (1997a) believed the comprehensiveness of the basic The destruction to land caused by surface mining was
theories of the related disciplines should be the basic theory most direct and obvious because surface mining needed to
of land reclamation, including soil and botany theory, strip the topsoil and rock above the coal seam (Hu 1996).
ecological theory, mining subsidence theory, as well as soil Surface coal mine can be divided into several parts, such as
reconstruction theory (Hu et al. 2008). Bai et al. (1999) the stope, waste dump, tailing pond and industrial site, so
regarded restoration ecology as the theoretical foundation its land destruction types included excavation, occupation
of the ecological reconstruction in mining area. Hu et al. and pollution, of which excavation and occupation were
(2008) stated the connotation and relationship between land most direct (Hu 1995b). In fact, in addition to the land
reclamation and ecological reconstruction on the basis of damaged directly by mining, the destruction of soil erosion
analyzing the definition of land reclamation, understanding and regional ecological environment caused by mining far
the reclamation goals in the foreign countries and went beyond the boundaries of the mine areas. Although
introducing foreign reclamation regulations, the contents there were only a few of surface coal mines, and all located
and history of land reclamation, thinking that “reclamation” in the western and northern of China where population
itself contained many ecological reconstruction (restoration) density was low, but most of these areas were arid or semi-
contents, the core contents and English name of them arid ecological environment fragile area. Not only did the
had no difference, and there were certain problems of the development of surface coal mines directly damage large
translation of “reclamation” in our country. Long (1997) area of ​​land, but it also caused a wider range of soil erosion
proposed five principles of ecological reconstruction of and land desertification which were more serious.
abandoned mine land from the perspectives of landscape
3.2 Ecological restoration of the waste dump of surface
ecology: imitation natural prototype principle, the principle
coal mine
of spots-gallery-base relations, the principle of diversity
and heterogeneity, the principle of combination of external The waste dump was often a mixture of rock and soil,
conditions and man and nature biological control symbiosis and there was more rock than soil in the waste materials.
theory. Zhang and Zhang (1999) discussed the basic Therefore, the waste dump was mainly reclaimed to forestry
theoretical issues of land reclamation systematically, such as land, and it also could be used as agricultural land or other
the concept, objects, nature, disciplinary affiliation, research purposes. The ecological restoration of the waste dump
space and its theoretical framework, believing that the basic of surface coal mine included three major parts: landform
theories of land reclamation should include: land failure reshaping, soil reconstruction and vegetation recovery.
mechanism and land loss theory, the basic principles and
3.2.1 Reshaping of the waste dump of surface coal mine
laws of land reclamation, and the theory of sustainable and
efficient use of reclaimed land. Bian (2005) considered that The landform reshaping system of the waste dump of
ecological succession theory provided a good theoretical surface coal mine included the base construct, main
basis for vegetation recovery and the establishment of part construct, platform construct and slope construct. A
a reasonable population pattern of land reclamation and large number of practices proved that the precautions of
ecological reconstruction in coal mining area, the principles ecological restoration of the waste dump were as follows:
of landscape ecology can be used for the planning of (i) the combination of mining process and ecological
ecological reconstruction and choice of land-use direction. restoration process; (ii) the stripping and storage of topsoil;
Meng and Zong (2010) regarded ecological succession (iii) the abandon of gangue and ground leveling; (iv)
theory as the principles of ecological restoration in coal topsoil covering and formation engineering; and (v) the
mining area, and many other ecological theories were used construction of basic water conservancy projects (Wei et al.
in the recovery process, including: limiting factor principle, 2004).
the laws of thermodynamics, population density constraints
3.2.2 Soil reconstruction of the waste dump of surface coal
and distribution pattern principle, ecological adaptability
mine
theory, niche principle, succession theory, plant invasion
theory, biodiversity principle, the patch-corridor-base theory The key measure of soil reconstruction was that how
and so on. The ecological restoration of abandoned mine to make soil order remain basically unchanged or more
land was a multidisciplinary research area, not only should suitable for crop growth after the ecological restoration. Wei
it learn from the ecological theories and principles, but it et al. (2001) described the concept of the soil reconstruction
also should draw lessons from other discipline theories, to method of outer waste dump platform, and further studied
build its own unique basic theory system. the erosion control mechanism through hydrological
analysis calculation. A large number of practices
HU Zhenqi, et al.: Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mine Land in China 291

Fig. 1 Ecological restoration effect of the waste dump of Pingshuo surface coal mine in Shanxi Province.

have proved that the internal dumping with mining- stress equilibrium were bound by all directions forces in
reclamation integration was a cost-effective method of soil the earth’s crust. Taking the mining of nearly horizontal
reconstruction. Hu (1997b) proposed the soil reconstruction coal seam for example, downward movement and bending
method named “layered peeling, staggered backfill”, whose of the direct roof of goaf would be generated after the
characteristics could be summarized as follows: (i) stripping underground mining of coal seam. The direct roof was
topsoil and stockpiling in the mining channel; (ii) dividing first fractured, then crushed, and successively fallen when
the overburden into several layers (such as the top soil layer the internal tensile stress exceeded the tensile strength
and bottom rock mass) and stripping respectively; and (iii) limit of rock stratum. The strata range affected by mining
staggered backfilling the rock (soil) layer. Staggered backfill was expanding with the moving forward of working face
was the core principle of soil reconstruction theory (Hu and the earth’s surface would be affected by rock strata
1997b). movement when the mining area was large enough, and
eventually causing the formation of subsidence land, which
3.2.3 Vegetation recovery of the waste dump was regarded as “mining subsidence land”. According to
Because of the mixed piled material, the waste dump the physical characteristics of subsidence damage, damage
usually needed to be stacked for 4 to 6 years before degree of soil productivity, adequacy degree of mining and
stability. Generally speaking, the waste dump was not ownership of subsidence land, Hu (1996) systematically
convenient for ecological restoration before stability. The classified the mining subsidence land. Gu et al. (1998a)
mode that reasonable configuration of grass, forestry and revealed the spatial difference, stage law, productivity
agriculture and the combination of short-term and long- change mechanism of mining subsidence land on basis
term benefits could be used as well as the mode called of testing the soil characteristics and crop yield for three
“grass first” and “grass main” in the ecological restoration consecutive years and using fuzzy mathematics method
of the waste dump. Wei et al. (2004) analyzed the effect of to evaluate the productivity quantitatively. His research
reducing stream and sediment of different vegetations and further proved that soil physical properties such as soil bulk
their configuration modes of south waste dump in Antaibao density and porosity, were obviously affected by mining
surface coal mine and proposed suitable vegetation subsidence, but the chemical properties were not except
improvement measures. Tai et al. (2002) found that sea- the conductivity. The impact on microbial biomass was
buckthorn was the ideal reclamation plant of the waste mainly concentrated in a period of time before and after
dump of surface coal mine in grassland area, which could the stability of subsidence land, soil microbial biomass was
form the dense artificial sea-buckthorn shrubs in a short gradually restored along with the subsidence time going
period of time, their effect of soil fertilization and water (Gu et al. 1998b). Besides a direct impact on the quantity
and soil conservation was remarkable and the salinization and quality of land, mining subsidence also had a negative
degree of the lower slope pasture had been slowed down impact on the landscape, regional water environment,
significantly by them. survival and growth of wildlife (Hu et al. 2008).
The ecological restoration effect of the waste dump of 4.2 Ecological restoration technology of mining
Pingshuo surface coal mine in Shanxi Province was shown subsidence land
in Fig. 1.
4.2.1 Planning technology
4 Ecological restoration of abandoned mine The improvement plan of mining subsidence land belonged
land caused by underground mining to the special plan in the land-use planning system, and
4.1 Mechanism and process of ecological changes of earlier research began in the 1990s (Hu et al. 1994). Its
mining subsidence land basic contents included survey and analysis of damaged
The rock masses without being mined which were in natural land status, quasi-damaged land forecast, determination
292 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.3 No.4, 2012

of reclamation methods and ecological restoration targets, and requirements of land ecological economic system, the
reclamation measures, timing sequence and spatial ecological agricultural reclamation technology referred to
arrangement of reclamation work, investment and fee transform the subsidence land to an integrated agricultural
arrangement of reclamation project, reclamation benefit production system with multi-level, multi-structure, multi-
evaluation and so on. Besides the traditional planning function through engineering and ecological measures,
techniques, the principles and methods of landscape achieving multistage stratified utilization of material and
ecological planning were also applied in the reclamation energy, and improving the cycle transformation efficiency
planning process of mining subsidence land. Xia et al. and overall function of the system. There were many types
(2007) discussed the comprehensive effect and technical of ecological agricultural reclamation technologies, material
means of landscape strategy in the improvement planning recycling type of amphibious exchange and complementary
process of mining subsidence land, and proposed the was the most typical one, which achieved comprehensive
landscape restoration approach of composite ecosystem operation of agriculture-fisheries-poultry-livestock by
in mining subsidence area with examples. Wang and Han taking full advantage of the characteristics of “deep area”
(1999) proposed that only if we complied with the principles and “shallow area”, and complying with the life patterns
of landscape ecology, designed reasonable landscape pattern of fish, poultry and other living beings, as well as niche,
at the macro level, created suitable ecological conditions at and rational combination with using of the principle of
the micro level, could we achieve the goals of ecological ecological food chain.
reconstruction.
4.2.4 Biological reclamation technology
4.2.2 Reclamation engineering technology
Biological reclamation technology referred to restore
After more than 20 years of research and practice, the the soil fertility and biological production capacity. The
engineering technology system of ecological restoration application of biological reclamation technology could
of mining subsidence land in China has been initially effectively improve the structure of reclaimed soil and
formed, including the land reclamation technology with restore the fertility of reclaimed land. Therefore, biological
the mud pump, towed scraper and excavator, land leveling, reclamation which included soil improvement and
dredging and draining method, filling reclamation with the vegetation recovery was also considered as the continuation
coal gangue, fly ash, lake mud and so on (Hu et al. 2008). of engineering reclamation and an integral part of the land
Comparing with the coal gangue, fly ash and construction reclamation process. The amelioration of mycorrhizal and
waste, river sludge contained higher organic matter content, other microorganism on reclaimed soil achieved more and
and the reclaimed land could get more fertile soil. There more concern, which could effectively promote vegetation
has been a successful application case reclaimed with lake recovery and played an important role in maintaining the
mud in Yaoqiao coal mine, which located in the west bank stability of ecosystems. But the application of mycorrhizal
of Weishanhu Lake (Zou et al. 2009). The disadvantages of technology in ecological restoration was still in the stage of
the technology were that the silt layer was thick, the time indoor experimental study in China, and most of the study
of drainage consolidation was long and the reclaimed land areas located in the traditional coal mining areas, such as
needed two or three years to recover before cultivating (Xue Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei provinces, and Inner Mongolia.
2006). The ecological restoration effect of mining subsidence
Due to the situation that the subsidence of cultivated land land of Tangshan coal mine in Hebei Province was shown
was serious in plain mining area and the sediment siltation in Fig. 2.
of Yellow River was also serious,filling reclamation with
Yellow River sediments, which was a huge project, became 5 Ecological restoration of coal waste piles
a new way of ecological restoration of mining subsidence The ecological restoration of coal waste piles mainly
land. Although some useful practices have been made by included three key stages: analysis and evaluation of
part of the mine enterprises, its key technologies still needed site conditions of coal waste piles, reshaping and soil
to be further studied, such as the optimization of taking preparation and vegetation recovery.
sand position and taking sand pump with long distance,
5.1 Analysis and evaluation of site conditions of coal
high lift and large flow; optimization of diameter, pipe and
waste piles
flow velocity of sediment transport pipeline; optimization
of sediment solid-liquid ratio; assembly technology of Site conditions were the comprehensiveness of the
pipeline and relay pressurized station; automation control environmental factors related to the growth and
technology; technology of filling with sand, drainage of silt, development of vegetation, including climate, terrain
and recultivation. conditions and the properties of the surface composition
substance. Coal waste pile was a special site type, which
4.2.3 Ecological agricultural reclamation technology
was different from the general site type of soil. Numerous
According to the principles of ecology, ecological studies showed that the coal waste pile had coarse particle,
economics, systems engineering and the basic properties large porosity, high permeability coefficient, barren nutrient
HU Zhenqi, et al.: Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mine Land in China 293

Fig. 2 Ecological restoration effect of mining subsidence land of Tangshan coal mine in Hebei Province.

content (Hu 1995a; Duan et al. 1999; Wang et al. 2008), low land preparation were used more often in our country (Hu
field capacity, low wilting coefficient and low cumulative 1995c).
evaporation (Duan et al. 1999; Wang et al. 2008) and other
5.3 Vegetation recovery of coal waste piles
features. Duan and Zhao (1998) studied the salt condition
of the surface weathered material of coal waste piles and Due to the limiting factors for the growth of many plants,
the results indicated that the salt content of the weathered matrix improvement, selection of greening species,
material was high and the pH value was low with the vegetation recovery planting and scientific tending
spontaneous combustion of coal gangue, which was difficult management should be implemented on the basis of analysis
to meet the site conditions for plant growth; the weathered and evaluation of site conditions and reshaping and soil
material contained minimum salinity when there was no preparation of coal waste piles.
spontaneous combustion of coal gangue, and the pH value
5.3.1 Matrix improvement of coal waste piles
tends to be neutral, which was suitable for normal growth
and development of plants. The main limiting factors of As a result of the limit of the landform and physical and
the ecological restoration of coal waste piles were texture, chemical properties of surface soil of coal waste piles, it
moisture, nutrients, pH, salinity, surface temperature, heavy was difficult for the plants which were planted directly to
metals in turn (Wei and Wang 2009). Cheng et al. (2009) survive, even if survival it was also difficult to maintain
revealed the physical and chemical properties of coal and manage them, so the matrix improvement of coal
gangue in Huainan area: limited weathering degree; high waste piles must be carried out. The matrix improvement
pH value, strong alkalinity; the nutritional element contents technologies of coal waste piles mainly included physical,
were relatively insufficient except the organic matter, chemical and biological improvement measures. Physical
especially the available nutrient; the heavy metal content improvement measures mainly contained reshaping and
was much lower than the secondary standard value of soil soil preparation and covering with new soil, and chemical
environmental quality, which demonstrated that there was improvement measures referred to the fact that the addition
no heavy metal pollution. of chemical substances could change the acidity and
alkalinity or improve the soil nutrients of coal waste piles;
5.2 Reshaping and soil preparation of coal waste piles
biological improvement measures were to use nitrogen-
Generally, the coal waste piles had steep slopes and loose, fixing plants, green manure crops, as well as nitrogen-fixing
poor site conditions. In order to meet the requirements of microbes which could endure extreme habitat conditions to
the planting projects and soil and water conservation of improve the physical and chemical properties of surface soil
ecological restoration of coal waste piles, the measures of coal waste piles (Hu et al. 2006).
of reshaping and soil preparation must be taken. The
5.3.2 Selection and configuration of greening species
selection of reshaping form of coal waste piles and design
of mountain roads, drainage systems and erosion-resistant Generally speaking, the greening of coal waste piles
slopes were introduced in detail by Zhang and Bian (1997). should follow the principle named “Greening comes
The soil preparation way of coal waste piles contained firstly, Economics comes secondly”. According to the site
overall soil preparation and local soil preparation; soil conditions of coal waste piles, the preferred pioneer plants
preparation depth varied from different vegetations; soil with less restricted factors were first selected to make the
preparation width should not be too large, so as not to ecological environment gradually improve, and then other
exacerbate soil erosion; soil preparation time should be plant species would be configured. The selection of pioneer
at least ahead of a rainy season (Li et al. 2006a; Hu et al. plant varieties should comply with the local geographic
2006). Based on the ecological restoration practice of coal location, climate and other natural conditions and the
waste piles, the cave-shaped site preparation and terracing particularity of site conditions of coal waste piles. The good
294 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.3 No.4, 2012

varieties with the resistance to drought and barren, strong commonly, the management intensity was relatively high in
germination force, high survival rate, fast growth, especially the first year after the forestation of coal waste piles (such
the indigenous plants, would be the first choice of pioneer as irrigation, fertilizing, tending of vegetation), then the
plants, as well as the plants with developed root systems (Hu management intensity could be reduced year by year, lastly
1995b). Before the large-scale cultivation, the multi-species the plants should grow by themselves to establish a stable
cultivation experiments in small range were necessary to be self-maintaining ecological system (Li et al. 2006a).
implemented for optimization. According to the principle
5.4 Ecological restoration effect of coal waste piles
called “diversity promotes stability”, the forestation of coal
waste piles should be configured with the mixed forest to Hu et al (2002) studied the black locust forest productivity
increase the species diversity and hierarchy of the plant and ecological effect of coal waste piles in Wangzhuang
ecosystem and enhance the function of improving the coal mine, and the results indicated that the focus of
ecological environment. Vegetation community structure hydrological effect of vegetation and soil of coal waste
should simulate the natural vegetation structure which was piles was reducing the macropore (not capillary pore),
stratified mixed with the trees, bushes and grass (Li et al. increasing the capillarypore, improving soil water-retaining
2006b). capacity and fertilizer-saving ability, and reducing the
infiltration rate through the effect of soil improvement
5.3.3 Vegetation recovery planting technology
caused by vegetation; the locust tree could prevent the
The forestation of coal waste piles should be implemented acidification of the surface material, improve the organic
in the season with climatic optimum, labor-saving and less matter content of coal gangue, at the same time increase
investment, which should also conform to the biological the amount of total nitrogen and promote the effectiveness
characteristics of plant species, therefore, spring, summer of nitrogen. The further research showed that: after 9 years
and autumn were the best choices. For the poor site of natural succession and growth process, there were great
conditions of coal waste piles, it’s better to use the planting changes in the species and quantities of plants of coal
holes on the next season or interval season after excavation waste piles, and the artificial plant communities had been
(Li et al. 2006b). Vegetation planting technology of coal formed, including 15 arbor species, 12 shrub species and
waste piles included covering soil planting, no covering 18 herbaceous species (Hu et al. 2003). Wei et al. (2007)
soil planting and drought-resistant planting technology. The discussed the effect of vegetation measures on the physical
covering soil planting was that vegetations were planted and chemical properties of the gangue weathered materials
on the surface of coal waste piles covered by a certain in Wangzhuang coal mine, and the results indicated
thickness of soil, fly ash or sludge (Li et al. 2006a). The that shrub planting, to some extent, was helpful to raise
no covering soil planting was that the plants were directly the characteristics of the gangue weathered materials
cultivated in the weathered materials on the surface of coal significantly, such as the permeability and retention of
waste piles where soil preparation method was used only, moisture, the content of pH, all N, available P, available K
and the planting holes were backfilled with the foreign soil and so on, and it also could increase the weathered depth
instead of other matrix improvement technology, such as and particle composition of the weathered material.
covering with new soil, sludge and so on (Li et al. 2006a). The forestation effect of coal waste piles of Wangzhuang
Because of the fact that the water shortage was always coal mine in 1991 and 1994 was shown in Fig. 3.
the dominant limiting factor for plant survival and growth
of coal waste piles, water retention was the key measure 6 Demonstration bases and promotion
to improve the survival rate of seedlings. There were applications of ecological restoration of
several drought-resistance and water-retention planting abandoned mine land
technologies, such as water retention agent technology, Twenty three land reclamation pilot projects had been
mulching water retention technology, container seedling launched by state land management department from 1989
planting technology, ABT rooting powder technology and to 1991 in Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi,
so on (Hu et al. 2006). Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Liaoning and Anhui provinces; by the
end of 1992, 33 000 ha of land had already been reclaimed
5.3.4 Tending and management technology of vegetation
and three comprehensive reclamation demonstration
Tending and management of vegetation was a very projects had been established in Xuzhou, Huaibei and
important technology link whose key points were Tangshan cities in 1994, and many other reclamation
soil management (irrigation, fertilization), vegetation demonstration projects had also been built up by many
management (flat stubble, pruning), vegetation protection mine enterprises and local land management departments
(preventing plant diseases and insect pests, fire and the (Peng 2000). As for land reclamation of metal mines, the
destruction of human and livestock on vegetation) and reclamation demonstration base of open pit stope of bauxite
so on, whose purpose was to create good environment and red mud dump in Baise City, agricultural planting
conditions for the survival, growth, reproduction and renew demonstration farm of copper tailings pond in Yuncheng
of plants, so that the forestation could be finished quickly; City, soilless vegetation demonstration farm of tailings pond
HU Zhenqi, et al.: Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mine Land in China 295

Fig. 3 Forestation effect of coal wa.ste piles of Wangzhuang coal mine in 1991 and 1994.

in Tongling City, arsenic contamination remediation base in excavation, pollution), different economic locations and so
Chenzhou City had already been established by state land on.
management department (Hu 2009). (4) Key technologies of ecological restoration of
abandoned mine land, including the technologies of
7 Prospects reclamation management and planning, reclamation
The ecological restoration of abandoned mine land is a engineering, tending management. Reclamation engineering
complex system engineering problem with characteristics technology includes matrix improvement (landform
of systematicness, comprehensiveness and regional remodeling technology, topsoil protection and soil quality
differences, which is related to many disciplines, such as optimization technology) and key technologies of vegetation
ecology, geology, mining, soil, crop cultivation, forestry, recovery, as well as the collaborative restoration techniques
environment, aesthetics, agronomy, geography, land and so with plants, microorganisms, and animal, breaking through
on. Therefore, intensive research should be carried out by the common key technologies of ecological restoration
the ecological and environmental scientists, in conjunction in western ecological fragile region, soil conservation
with the scientific and technical personnel in mining. restoration techniques in eastern mining area with high
Judging from the current situation, the following theoretical groundwater table, as well as ecological restoration
and technical issues need to be solved: techniques of acidic coal waste piles.
(1) Basic theories of ecological restoration of abandoned (5) The establishment of ecological restoration
mine land. The ecological restoration of abandoned mine demonstration bases. A number of ecological restoration
land is a multidisciplinary research area, not only should it bases of abandoned mine land with characteristics of high
learn from the ecological theories and principles, but it also starting points, different minerals, different damage types
should draw lessons from other discipline theories, to build and different reclamation techniques in China should be
its own unique basic theoretical system. established to serve as a model in a long time and play a role
(2) Ecosystem succession process and mechanism of in scientific research, technology extension, environmental
abandoned mine land. According to the type of abandoned education and other aspects.
mine land and the difference of formation time, typical mine
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中国矿山迹地的生态恢复
胡振琪，王培俊，李 晶

中国矿业大学(北京) 土地复垦与生态重建研究所, 北京 100083

摘 要：矿业开发活动产生了大量的废弃地，本文综述了我国露天煤矿排土场、采煤沉陷地和煤矸石山等矿山迹地生态恢
复的理论与技术进展，并对今后研究的重点问题进行了展望。采矿迹地生态恢复涉及到很多学科，需要借鉴多学科的理论，同
时介绍了采矿迹地生态恢复的实用技术和示范基地建设情况，未来应重点关注矿山迹地生态系统演替过程与机理、采矿废弃地
复垦利用的结构优化和采矿迹地生态恢复新技术等问题。

关键词：矿山迹地；生态恢复；露天煤矿；采煤沉陷地；煤矸石山