Reclamation of overburden and lowland in coal mining area with fly ash and selective plantation: A sustainable ecological approach

• Coal mine spoil was reclaimed by selective plantation and fly ash amendment.
• Acacia auriculaeformis showed higher photosynthetic activity and leaf area.
• Cymbopogon flexuosus had the maximum soil and water conservation potential.
• Ambient air pollutants were significantly decreased after reclamation.

The extractions of coal through opencast mines and power generation from coal combustion in thermal power plants pose the concerns of environment due to huge production of overburden and fly ash, respectively. Considering fly ash as a soil ameliorant and other amendments as fertility supplement, reclamation of mine overburden and lowland in Jharia coalfield was carried out through plantation of efficient photosynthetic and soil-binder species. The characteristics of minespoil and lowland significantly improved (except N and K), photosynthetic rate and soil conserving efficiency of the planted species enhanced, and concentration of SPM, RSPM, CO2, SOx, and NOx reduced significantly over the control. Among the tree species, Acacia auriculaeformis, Albizia lebbek, Dalbergia sisoo, Cymbopogan flexuosus and Vetiveria zizanoides among the herbaceous plants showed most promising performance in respect of improving the physicochemical characteristics of mine spoil, photosynthetic activity and leaf area along with significantly conserving the soil erosion and water runoff. Thus the overburden and lowland in a coal mining area can be successfully reclaimed with improved aesthetic view and environment, via selective plantation using fly ash and other amendments.