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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Ecosystem Restoration
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1538243
This article is part of the Research Topic Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Restoration Interlinking Soil, Geological, and Vegetation Interactions for Sustainable Development View all articles

Ecological Restoration in High-Altitude Mining Areas: Evaluation Soil Reconstruction and Vegetation Recovery in the Jiangcang Coal Mining Area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Provisionally accepted
Shaohua Feng Shaohua Feng *Zhiwei Li Zhiwei Li Ce Zhang Ce Zhang Ran Qi Ran Qi Liya Yang Liya Yang
  • University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study evaluates the effectiveness of soil reconstruction and restoration in the Jiangcang coal mining area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where harsh environmental conditions pose significant challenges to ecological restoration. Two phases of ecological restoration were implemented, with outcomes assessed based on vegetation coverage, species diversity, biomass, soil properties, and community similarity. The results demonstrate that soil reconstruction significantly improved soil fertility, vegetation coverage, and community stability without noticeable degradation over time. The use of sheep manure increased species diversity by introducing native seeds, addressing the shortage of suitable grass species in alpine areas.Comparatively, the second phase of restoration, which included soil reconstruction, has elevated the vegetation coverage to 80%, matching natural background levels, and has also demonstrated superior outcomes in terms of soil stability, nutrient content, and other aspects compared to traditional methods. While aboveground biomass showed rapid recovery, belowground biomass lagged, indicating a need for longer-term restoration. Restored slopes exhibited higher similarity to natural alpine meadows compared to platforms, suggesting the dominance of the artificially seeded species on the platform areas hinders the reproduction of other species, which is unfavorable for the evolution of vegetation diversity. This study emphasizes the effectiveness of soil reconstruction, organic amendment, and other restoration measures, providing important experience and reference for mine ecological restoration in similar high-altitude mining areas.

    Keywords: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Soil reconstruction, ecological restoration, open-pit coal mining area, high-altitude vegetation recovery

    Received: 02 Dec 2024; Accepted: 20 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Feng, Li, Zhang, Qi and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shaohua Feng, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.