| Coal mining activities exert great impacts on the environment of surrounding areas. By using analytical methods like ICP-MS, XRF and soaking experiments, this research paper used Wuhai mining area in Inner Mongolia and Kongzhuang coal mine in Datun mining area of North Jiangsu province as examples to study the environmental impacts of coal mining activities(coal gangue stacking) to total environment(soil, waterbody and vegetation). Wuhai mining area was used to study the environmental impacts of coal gangue stacking to soil and vegetation—“Tetraena Mongolica”, while Kongzhuang coal mine was used to study the interaction between coal gangue and water, and the environmental impact of coal gangue to waterbody. The research findings are as follows:(1) The environmental impacts of coal gangue stacking to soil and waterbody and the elemental enrichment and pollution character in research area were determined. Elements like Mo, Cu, As, V and Pb enriched in soil of Wuhai area and heavy metals like Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg and Cu were pollution elements in research area; the main pollution elements in underground water were As、Ni、Pb and Mn. Elements like Hg、Se、P、Cd、Pb and SO42- have exceeded the environmental standard and affected regional water system.(2) The elemental variation in time, horizon and depth around coal gangue hill was determined. On time, elements like Co, Cu, Mo, Mn, Zn and B enriched in soil in recent 10 years; in depth(0-15cm), the contents of Hg, Pb, Zn, Mo and Se in soil decreased with soil depth, while As, Cu, Ni, Cr increased with depth; horizontally, the contents of studied 12 elements decreased at 1-2m around gob piles while increased at 2-10 m around gob piles, and then, the elemental contents began to stabilize.(3) The geochemical ways of coal gangue hill affecting the total environment, and the impact ranges were determined: leaching could influence soil elemental contents in 10 m around gob piles and the maximum impacts happened at 2m around coal gangue hill; the maximum impact range of elemental volatilization was about 3-5km away from coal gangue hill.(4) The geochemical interaction between coal gangue and water were revealed. The 7 days’ soaking experiments showed that elemental contents of As, Cr, Cd and Pb increased greatly in water, while Hg was easily adsorbed by clay minerals and decreased into initial content at 7th day. The release models of environmental sensitive As, Cd, Pb, Hg were similar with that of S, indicating the pyrite affinity of these elements.(5) The elemental geochemical character of Tetraena Mongolica in Wuhai was determined and the geochemical relationship among soil-coal(bedrock)-Tetraena Mongolica was discussed. Research showed that the distribution of rare vegetation Tetraena Mongolica showed coincidence with the distribution of underground coal resources. The content of Mo in Tetraena Mongolica was significantly higher than average content in vegetation while the Enrichment Factor of Mo in coal, coal gangue and coal seam was also higher. The correlation analysis showed that the relationship among Tetraena Mongolica, roof and floor was higher than partings, and the correlationship between coal and Tetraena Mongolica was the highest, and the adult vegetation was more correlated that juvenile. The long root system(especially adult system) of Tetraena Mongolica and the low burial depth of coal seam might promote the geochemical relationship between them. The analytical data showed that the contents of Fe, Cu, Mn, Co, Zn and Mo in soil of Tetraena Mongolica increased in recent years and the contents of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn in Tetraena Mongolica was also increased, which was the results of strengthening coal mining activities.The research results showed that coal mining activities had severe impacts on total environment(soil, waterbody, vegetation) of surrounding arreas and there was significant geochemical relationship between soil-bedrock(coal)-vegetation(Tetraena Mongolica). The research results provide scientific proof for pollution controlling in mining area. |
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