Fast green capping on coal fly ash basins through ecological engineering

The present article describes the possibilities of the fast revegetation of coal fly ash (FA) basins through human interventions i.e., “ecological engineering” for green capping. The field results revealed that the Saccharum spontaneum L. is a suitable candidate for green capping of coal FA basins because of its higher survivability and abundance growth. The establishment of S. spontaneum L. on the fresh coal FA basins and significant change in chemical properties, microbial biomass carbon and enzymatic activities between non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric soil were studied. The analytical results proved that S. spontaneum L. is a potential green capping candidate of coal FA basins. Besides green capping of coal FA basins, it provides other hidden benefits such as substrate quality enhancement, aesthetically pleasant landscape and carbon sequestration. Such model of ecological engineering should be applied as an efficient tool for the fast green cover development on new coal FA basins.