Characterization of Various Soil Properties in Block II Coal Mining Area of Jharia Coalfield, Jharkhand

摘要

In India, more than 80% of coal is produced from opencast mines for the last 15-20 year. Opencast method generally ruining the surface soil by leaving heaps of sterile overburden dumps. Coal mining has been extensively practiced in the Jharia coalfield, district of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. During mining operations, the original green area has been converted to slowly degraded area. Opencast mines discharges many unwanted materials into the soil regime of the area and deteriorate the surface soil quality. The various parameters, such as pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium were evaluated at different sampling locations in Block II coal mining area of Jharia Coalfield. The present study has been carried out to investigate the quality of surface soil Collected from the various locations in Block II area of Jharia Coalfield. This investigation can help to evaluate the fertility status of selected mining area and find out the several changes in different soil properties. The methodologies for developing the greenery over the dumps are not being discussed in this paper.