Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate

Steppe

Wang Jian

1,2,† a

, Qu Zhi-Qiang

3,† b

, Wang Zhan-Yi

and Hou Jia

4,* d

Research Institute of Highway MOT, Beijing, China

Key Laboratory of Road Traffic Environmental Protection Technology, MOT, Beijing, China

College of Grassland, Resource and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China

Vocational and Technical College of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Baotou, China

Keywords: Coal Mine, Soil Organic Carbon, Grassland Health, Lignite Dust, Plant Community Features, Carbon Isotopes.

Abstract: The exploitation of open pit mines in grassland brought many environmental problems. In this study, two

sizeable open-pit lignite mines in Inner Mongolia grassland were selected for study. We investigated the

vegetation and soil status of grasslands surrounding the coal mines. By comparing grasslands covered with

coal dust (GD) to the adjacent normal grasslands (CK), we found that the vegetation coverage, grass yield,

soil organic carbon, and soil nitrogen content of GD grasslands were lower than those that in the CK

grasslands. Based on the Chinese grassland degradation standards, we made an evaluation and found that

there was moderate-severe degradation of grassland around the mines after seven years of mining. We can

conclude that the exploitation of lignite mines caused the degradation of surrounding grasslands, and we

should pay attention to the controlling of pollutants emission and protecting the natural grassland.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the development of industrialization and the

increment of the world's population, human demand

for fossil fuels is increasing. Coal plays an important

role in supporting global energy consumption and

economic development (Bhattacharya et al., 2015).

China is one of the top five coal mining countries in

the world, including China, the United States, India,

Indonesia, and Australia (World Coal Association,

2014). About 90% of China's coal resources are

distributed in northern China (China geology survey,

2016), where most of land is grassland. About 41% of

China's land surface is natural grassland, which plays

a vital role in the economic development of pastoral

areas and in improving people's living (Sun, 2000). It

is an important issue that rational management and

protection of grassland resources to achieve regional

eco-economic-social sustainable development in the

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2097-9987

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0454-514X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9690-878X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3339-3934

†

These authors contributed equally to this article.

*Corresponding author

world. Besides boostting the economic and social

development of the region, the exploitation of coal

resources may also cause many potential ecological

and environmental problems, which includs pollution

of the surrounding areas of the mining area―air

pollution, water pollution, soil erosion, and

desertification, leading to ecosystem degradation,

changes of fauna and flora, loss of biodiversity,

damage to landscapes (Ejaz et al., 2014; Si et al.,

2010). The causes of such pollution are mainly the

emission of gaseous pollutants and the disturbance of

groundwater and surface drainage. Dust and gaseous

pollutants are more serious pollutants in arid areas.

The areas affected by these pollutants are mainly the

mining operation area in the mining area and the

surrounding area of the mining area.

The atmospheric pollutants produced by coal mining

impact on individual plants and plant populations. For

the plant leaves, the air around the coal mine often

Jian, W., Zhi-Qiang, Q., Zhan-Yi, W. and Jia, H.

Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate Steppe.

DOI: 10.5220/0011900300003536

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment (ISWEE 2022), pages 52-60

ISBN: 978-989-758-639-2; ISSN: 2975-9439

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

contains sulfur dioxide (SO

), nitrogen dioxide (NO

and total suspended particulates (TSP) (Pandey et al.,

2014). These substances would inhibit the plant

growth. The dust deposition would decrease the

stomata conductance of the plant leaves and affect on

respiration and photosynthesis. Coal dust reduced the

gas exchange and photosynthesis efficiency of

African mangrove leaves (Naidoo and Chirkoot,

2004). Coal powder addition can also inhibit the root

growth of forages (Wang et al., 2016). As the

development of individual plants is affected by coal

mine pollutants, it will further affect the competition

between populations and species, leading to changes

in community structure (Pandey et al., 2014).

Exploration of coal mining would reduce the number

of plant species in contaminated areas, thereby

reducing biodiversity (Spencer and Tinnin, 1997).

Coal dust can change the dominant trees in wetlands

by modifying the succession of plant communities

(Naidoo and Chirkoot, 2004). There is a general

perception that dust accumulation on plant surfaces

causes negative impacts on plants. While after five

years of observation, it was found that there was no

significant correlation between the emissions of inert

dust sourced from the Australian mines and the

growth of the Tetratheca paynterae or the

composition of the flora (Matsuki et al., 2016).

Because the amount of natural dust in the arid area

has been relatively large historically, the plant has

specific adaptability. As a dry area, the plant of Inner

Mongolia grassland is often disturbed by dust. The

open-pit mines of the grassland also would produce a

large amount of dust during the mining process. How

this coal dust depositions affect the grassland is one

of the scientific problems of this study.

Most of large open-pit coal mines in China are

distributed in an arid and semi-arid area with

vulnerable environments. Among them, four of the

five larger open-pit mines in China distributed in

Inner Mongolia grassland (Ratcliffe, 1974; Bai et al.,

2006). From 2006 to 2010, coal production of Inner

Mongolia was the biggest in China (Liao and Wei,

2011). Eleven out of the 14 open-pit coal mines in

China are found in Inner Mongolia grasslands (Geng,

2008; Ma et al., 2006). Thus, dust pollution may

affect the livelihood of local herders via its damage to

rangeland health. The production of lignite was

biggest in the typical steppe of Inner Mongolia. The

addition of humic acid extracted from lignite is

beneficial to improve soil fertility and promote plant

growth (Tahir et al., 2011). Then, after the lignite dust

deposition on grassland around the coal mine, how

does the grass growth, soil, and grassland health

change? We hypothesize that the deposition of lignite

dust will hurt the development of grass, especially in

arid regions where is a lack of rainwater to wash the

dust on the leaves. To certify our hypothesis, we

selected two open-pit coal mines in the typical steppe

of Inner Mongolia as the research object and

evaluated by comparing the health of adjacent

grasslands around the mining area.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Study Area and Sampling Design

Two large coal mines in this study situated in

Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia. The mean annual

temperature is –0.4 ℃ with extremes ranging from –

27.0 to 28.6 ℃ (Xiao, 1997). The long-term mean

annual precipitation is 360 mm and varies from 180

to 500 mm. The prevailing winds of the two mining

areas are western wind, and the soil types are

kastanozems (FAO, 1991). The coal types are brown

coal. In this study, the vegetation and soil survey of

W3 mine was completed in 2014, and the data survey

of B3 mine was completed in 2016.

Case 1: Shengli Coalfield West No. 3 Open-pit Coal

Mine (W3) is situated in Shengli Town, about 3km

north of Xilinhot City. The geographical location is

between 43°58'10.0" N, 43°58'52.8"N and 115°

57'03.8"E, 116 °00'20.8"E (Fig. 1-a). The coal mine

was established in 2007, with an annual output of

about 600 million tons (Beijing Huayu Engineering

co., 2015). The area is 2.47 square kilometers. The

coal quality is medium ash, medium sulfur, and low

phosphorus lignite (Feng et al., 2005). The study area

is set in downwind of the mining area and was fenced

and used as an area for high-voltage transmission

lines. Based on the surface dust coverage, two areas

were selected as the control area (CK) with almost no

dust cover and the dust great deposition area (GD),

respectively. The GD area was generally covered the

black coal dust, while the CK area had almost no coal

dust on the ground. The GD area is 100 meters from

the edge of the pit. The CK areas located at the

neighboring side of the GD areas within 1km. The

sample plot is rectangular with an area of 10 m×10 m.

There are three sample plots in both CK and GD area.

There are four quadrats in each plot with an area of 1

m2.

Case 2: Baiyinhua No. 3 Mine (B3) is situated in

Baiyinhua Town, Xiwuzhumu County, Xilinhot City.

It is located between 44°56'03.7"N, 44°51'42.3"N

and 118°31'40.5" E, 118°37'39.0"E (Fig.1-b). The

mine was established in 2006. Lignite of Baiyinhua

Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate Steppe

coalfield is high-quality, medium-ash, low-sulfur

content. The designed production capacity is 1.4

million t/a. The terrain of the study area is gentle.

There is no river around the mining area. The annual

average precipitation of Baiyinhua Town is 345.9 mm,

and the annual evaporation is 1769.0 mm. The annual

rainy season is June, July and August, accounting for

68% of the annual precipitation. The soil type is

chestnut soil.

The study area is set in downwind of the mining area,

which was fenced and used as a mowing grassland.

The grass was harvested in September once a year.

The GD area is 100 meters away from the edge of the

pit. The CK area is set on the east of the contaminated

area 1km. The sampling method is the same as that

for the W3 coal mine.

Figure 1: Location of the study sites near the coal mine (GD

indicates an area with coal dust significant deposition,

while CK indicates a control area inW3 coal mine (a) and

B3 coal mine(b))

2.2 Monitoring the Plant Community

Traits

Monitoring transects were set in the study area. Three

sampling plots (10 meters × 10 meters) were put on

the section with an interval distance of 100 meters,

and four square quadrats (1-meter × 1 meter) were

placed at the corners of the sample plot. Height,

coverage, density, and biomass of each species were

determined at the beginning of August (Li et al.,

1994). The biomass was thought to be the climax

between the end of July and the beginning of August.

And important values were calculated as follows.

Important value = [relative density + relative height +

relative coverage] / 3.

To observe the dust on the leaf, a binocular dissecting

microscope was used with 15 x magnifications. Ten

leaves of dominant species in the GD area

surrounding the coal mine were carefully and

randomly sampled and wrapped in a plastic film and

then fixed into a book.

2.3 Monitoring the Soil Traits

Considering that topsoil covered by coal dust

deposition, we sampled soil stratified by depth into 0–

3 cm, 3–10 cm, 10–20 cm, and 20–30 cm. At the same

time, a certain amount of brown coal powder was

sampled in the coal yard of the W3 coal mining.

For preparation of determining of soil total carbon,

total nitrogen, and total sulfur, the soil was air-dried,

ground, and pass through a 100 mesh sieve. The

elemental analyzer (Vario EL elementar, Germany)

was used to determine the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur

content. Hydrochloric acid was added to the soil to

remove calcium carbonate. Soil organic carbon was

finally resolved by an elemental analyzer.

Soil carbon isotopes were measured by Picarro CM-

CRDS (Picarro, USA).

Soil moisture and temperature were measured by the

TDR moisture meter WET-2 Sensor (Delta-T

Devices, UK). The profile was excavated in each plot

for plant survey, and parameters were measured at

three depths: 0‒10 cm, 10‒20 cm, and 20‒30 cm.

2.4 Data Analysis

One-way analysis of variance was used to compare

each variable between CK treatment and GD

treatment (SPSS 19.0 for Windows). The variables

include total C, N, S, δ13C, soil water content and

soil temperature and plant yield and vegetation cover.

This section must be in one column.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Soil Traits Surrounding the Coal

Mine

The distribution of coal dust on grassland around the

mining area had great spatial heterogeneity. The color

of the topsoil in the contaminated area was not

uniform. The coal powder accumulated in the low-

lying area, and the color was black (Appendix-Figure

S1). We analyzed the carbon isotope of the soil and

lignite in the GD area of the W3 mine. We found that

the carbon

δ in the surface soil (0‒3 cm) was the

small in the CK area, while it was the large in the coal

powder (Fig. 2). The Carbon

δ in the soil of GD area

was between the CK area and coal powder, which

shows that the deposition of coal dust increased the

C isotope content of the surface soil around the

mining area, indicates that coal dust in the surface soil

of GD area is derived from coal.

ISWEE 2022 - International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment

Figure 2: Carbon isotope content of soil and coal in the

grassland surrounding the W3 coal mine.

Figure 3: Contents of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur of soil in

the grassland surrounding the W3 coal mines (A) and B3

coal mines (B).

Fig. 3 shows the carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur content

of the soil around the mining area. For 0–3 cm soil,

the soil total carbon and total sulfur content in the GD

area are substantially higher than that in the CK area,

while the total nitrogen of 10–20 cm soil in the CK

area was significantly higher than that in the GD area.

There was no significant difference between CK and

GD area in other soil layers.

3.2 Vegetation Traits of Grassland

Surrounding the Mining Area

The dominant species of climax community on

grassland surrounding W3 mining are Achnatherum

splendens, Stipa krylovii, and Stipa grandis. At the

same time, the GD area was dominated by

Neopallasia pectinata, Achnatherum splendens, and

Convolvulus ammannii (Table 1). Species also

changed to some extent. The important values of

Leymus chinensis and Stipa krylovii in the CK area

were higher than those in the GD area, indicating that

the community composition was unstable and in

succession (Table 2).

For the grass yield of the community (Table 3), the

grass yield in the CK area of the B3 mine was

significantly greater than that in the GD area. The

grass yield of the CK area in the W3 mine was greater

than that in the GD area (p=0.051). Compared with

the grass yield in the CK area, the grass yield of the

GD area decreased by 37.8% and 36.7% in the W3

mine and B3 mine, respectively.

Table 1: Dominant plant species in grassland surrounding the W3 coal mine.

Order CK area GD area

Latin name Important value Latin name Important value

1 Stipa krylovii 42.20 Neopallasia pectinata 17.93

2 Achnatherum splendens 18.05 Convolvulus ammannii 17.51

3 Stipa grandis 12.31 Stipa krylovii 17.41

4 Chenopodium aristatum. 9.86 Stipa grandis 16.95

5 Cleistogenes squarrosa 4.16 Agropyron mongolicum 16.73

Table 2: Dominant plant species in grassland surrounding the B3 coal mine.

Order CK area GD area

Latin name IV* Latin name IV

1 Leymus chinensis 46.90 Agropyron cristatum 21.90

2 Carex korshinskyi 15.47 Leymus chinensis 17.01

3 Artemisia sacrorum 18.71 leistogenes squarrosa 16.32

4 Phragmites australis 10.88 Carex korshinskyi 13.80

5 Iris lactea 9.84 Allium mongolicum 12.94

*IV means Important value

-23

-22

-21

-20

CK GD CK GD CK GD CK GD Coal

0-3 3-10 10-20 20-30 -

Treatments & depth(cm)

δ13C(‰)

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0-3 3-10 10-20

Soil depth(cm)

S(% )

abc

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

N(%)

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

310

10 20

C(%)

(

)

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

N(%)

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0-3 3-10 10-20

Soil depth(cm)

S(% )

Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate Steppe

Table 3: Changes in aboveground biomass (g) in grassland

surrounding the W3 and B3 coal mine.

Sites W3 B3

CK 162.11±18.01a* 93.63±13.22a

GD 100.85±23.67b 59.27±6.99b

* Letters indicate that the difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

The grassland cover of the GD area was lower than

that of the CK area (Table 4). Compared with the CK

area, the cover decreased by 33.6% and 32.9% in the

W3 mine and B3 mine, respectively.

Table 4: Changes in the cover of grassland surrounding the

W3 and B3 coal mine.

Sites W3 B3

CK 70.83%±4.43%a 45.33%±6.37%a

GD 46.75%±4.13%b 26.2%±3.69%b

4 DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Evaluation of Grassland Health

based on Vegetation Cover, Grass

Yield, and Soil Index of Grassland

around the Coal Mine

Based on data of grassland vegetation and soil around

the mine area, we evaluated the grassland health

status with reference to the Chinese standard of

natural grassland degradation(GB 19377 ‐ 2003,

2013). Table 5 lists the main indicators of the

standard.

Table 5: Classification and grading indicators of degradation level of natural grassland in China.

Determined Class of degradation and the relative percentage of reduction in each indicator

indexes No degradation Light degradation Medium degradation Heavy degradation

Grassland cover 0-10 11-20 21-30 >30

CAD# 0-10 11-20 21-40 >40

Grass yield 0-10 11-20 21-50 >50

0‒20cm SOM

†

0-10 11-20 21-40 >40

0‒20cm soil total N* 0-10 11-20 21-25 >25

#CAD means comprehensive arithmetic dominance of dominant species in grassland, CAD= (C’+P’)/2, Relative cover (C’) = the cover of a

species / the maximum cover of a species among the community. Relative weight (P') = the weight of a species / the maximum weight of a

species shoots in the community. †SOM means soil organic matter. *Soil nitrogen is a selective parameter. Other parameters are essential.

Based on the criteria in Table 5, the changes in

grassland–related indicators in coal mines are

evaluated. We found that the grassland surrounding

the two coal mines has moderate to heavy degradation

(Table 6, Table 7).

Table 6: Evaluation of grassland degradation based on the related indicators of grassland surrounding the W3 mine.

Monitoring index CK area

GD area

Reduction rate Degradation level

Total cover / % 70.80 46.8 34.00% heavy

CAD(S

krylovii) 1 0.47 52.82% heavy

Grass yield / g.m

-2

162.10 100.80 38.00% medium

3‒20cm SOM /g.kg

-1

17.63 11.87 32.68% medium

3‒20cm soil N/g.kg

-1

2.15 1.60 25.73% heavy

ISWEE 2022 - International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment

Table 7: Evaluation of grassland degradation surrounding the B3 coal mine.

Monitoring index CK area GD area Reduction rate Degradation level

Total cover / % 45.33% 26.20% 42.21% heavy

CAD(L. chinensis) 1 0.46 53.72% heavy

Grass yield / g.m

-2

93.63 59.27 36.70% medium

3-20cm SOM /g.kg

-1

15.34 11.87 22.62% medium

3-20cm soil N /g.kg

-1

2.59 2.27 12.36% light

The two coal mines were established almost at the

same time: the W3 mine (2007) and the B3 mine

(2006). The production capacity of the B3 coal mine

(140 million tons/year) was bigger than W3 coal mine

(6 million tons/year), so the emissions of pollutants

from W3 mine should be more than that of B3, which

may be one reason for the difference of reduced rate

of SOM and soil nitrogen content of the B3 and W3

coal mines. Although browning brown coal-derived

products can improve soil organic matter and promote

plant growth (Tahir et al., 2011), however, the

addition of lignite and a mixture of minerals with

lignite into the soil does not promote the growth of

alfalfa (Little, 2015). It is found that the soil data

changes less than the data of vegetation within one

coal mine (Table 6, Table 7). The increment of total

carbon content in the soil around the mining area

could attribute to high content of carbon in the coal

powder itself. At the same time, the increase in soil

sulfur content is also related to the deposition of coal

dust, because the sulfur content of the coal powder is

high at the W3 mine (Feng et al., 2005). Open pit

mines will produce a large number of air pollutants

(particle matter and SO

, NO

) as all the works related

to mining in the area sites near coal mining areas

(Mishra and Koshta, 2018). There was a lot of dust

and SO

emitted from the open-pit mines in this study,

which can fall over the leaf and inhibit the grass

growth (Wang et al., 2016; Wu, 2014). This may be

one of the essential factors contributing to grassland

degradation in this study.

4.2 Relationship between Grassland

Degradation and Coal Dust

Deposition, Soil Temperature, and

Moisture around the Coal Mine

The factors causing grassland degradation around the

coal mine may be related to the deposition of coal dust.

There was a lot of coal dust on the ground of grassland

in the GD area in this study. The coal dust falling on

the grass leaves would affect the photosynthesis of

plants. Studies have found that coal dust can reduce

the photosynthetic rate of African mangrove leaves

(Naidoo & Chirkoot, 2004). Our study also found that

the deposition of coal dust can reduce of

photosynthetic rate and the growth of several

herbaceous plants (Wang et al., 2016), which may be

a reason for the low grass yield in the GD area. In

addition, we sampled the leaves of several plants in

the GD area of the W3 coal mine and observed the

dust distribution on the leaves (Fig. 4). The leaves of

Leymus chinensis, Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii

had a different amount of coal dust on their leaves.

The leaves of these plants were rough and had

epidermal hairs. These morphological structures

facilitate the retention of dust particles! The leaves of

Neopallasia pectinata was relatively small, and they

were needle-like with a smooth and hairless surface.

At the same time, the coal dust was only retained on

the hairy stem when observed under the microscope.

This may be the reason for the dominance of

Neopallasia pectinata in the GD area. Furthermore,

plants with low stature, rigid branches and leaves,

sunken stomata, smooth epicuticular wax or

pubescent leaves and branches were more likely to

accumulate dust (Turner, 2013). Meanwhile, some

studies found that plant in the arid region had a strong

resistance and adaption to dust stress (Matsuki et al.,

2016); However, the dust in this study is lignite

powder with a black color which is different from the

inert dust of some studies.

The deposition of lignite dust would influence soil

temperature and water content. In this study, the GD

grassland around B3 had a higher surface temperature

and lower soil water content (Table 8 and Figure 5).

In the same topographic condition, the difference of

soil temperature between the two areas was more than

5 °C, while the soil moisture in the topsoil of CK was

higher than that in the GD area (Fig. 5). This may be

caused by the coal dust deposition to the grassland

since the black dust on the ground is easy to absorb

more solar radiation, causing the ground temperature

to rise.

Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate Steppe

Table 8: Changes in soil water content of grassland surrounding theW3 coal mine.

Study area 0‒10 cm soil 10‒20 cm soil 20‒30 cm soil

CK-2015 4.51±0.28A* 5.40±0.32A 5.54±0.24A

GD-2015 2.84±0.28B 3.25±0.31B 3.71±0.47B

* Capital letters indicate that the difference is significant at the 0.001 level.

Figure 4: The dust covered on the leaf of dominant species

in the GD area surrounding the W3 coal mine (A,

B―Leymus chinensis; C, D―Stipa grandis; E, F―Stipa

krylovii; G, H―Neopallasia pectinata).

The evaporation of soil water accelerated, which was

easily led to soil drought. Plants are more susceptible

to drought stress, resulting in reduced biomass or the

death of certain species. Black coal powder is

different from inert silicon-containing dust, such as

white kaolin. Repeated application of a thin film of

inert dust (kaolin clay) increased crop yield (Glenn

and Puterka, 2005). Kaolin clay protects plants from

excess radiation resulting in reduced stomata

conductance and increased water use efficiency as it

is white.

Figure 5: Temperature (a) and water content (b) of soils in

the grassland surrounding the B3 coal mine.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we investigated the vegetation and soil

of grassland surrounding the coal mines in Inner

Mongolia steppe. After mining for 7 years, different

amounts of coal dust around the mine had been

accumulated. By comparing the soil and vegetation

status in the adjacent areas, we found that the

vegetation cover, aboveground biomass, important

values of dominant species, soil organic matter, and

total nitrogen decreased in the GD area, and the

species composition of the community changed. We

can conclude that the mining of lignite led to the

degradation of grasslands surrounding the coal mine.

we should pay attention to the controlling the

emission of gaseous pollutants such as dust and SO2

and protecting the grassland around the mining area.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We particularly appreciate the assistance in the

fieldwork by undergraduate students: Liang Wang,

Jing Li. This work was supported by the Opening

Project of the Key Laboratory of Road Traffic

Environmental Protection Technology，Ministry of

Transport，PRC.

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APPENDIX

Figure S1: Photos of the grassland around the W3

and B3 coal mine showing CK area (a) and GD area

(b) in the W3 coal mine, CK area (c) and GD area (d)

in the B3 coal mine.

Degradation of Grassland Covered by Coal Dust in a Temperate Steppe

ISWEE 2022 - International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment