Study Of Flora And Soil Quality Of Selected Chromite Mining OB Dumps In Sukinda, Odisha, India.

Abstract

The nature plays a very significant role in the maintenance of ecological order of the ecosystem.

The forests, occupy unique position because of its renewable nature. Forests also preside protection to other resources and crops. The species diversity in a plant community increases with the decrease in anthropogenic disturbances. As a result of mining and coal combustion significant areas of land are degraded and acting ecosystems are replayed by undesirable waste materials in the form of dumps, tailing dams and ash dams. The dumping of mine tailings and other rejected materials (referred to as overburden, OB) generated from opencast metal mines is   considered as a major contributor to the ecological and   environnemental degradation. Plant communities are often subjected to disturbances and these conditions may facilitate co-existence and maintain high diversity. To understand the influence of disturbances on vegetation, their spatial and temporal dimension, frequency of occurrence and magnitude has to be considered. Relatively more biological rich area was observed where the disturbance is low. The Indian Bureau of mines (2000) has recommended ecorestoration of dump as a part of natural succession process and it should be started with sowing of seeds of legumes, grasses, herbs and shrubs in the inter-spacing of tree plantation.