A study on the Bulk density and its effect on the growth of selected grasses in coal mine overburden dumps, Jharkhand, India Rai Arvind Kumar, Research Scholar, Paul Biswajit, Assistant Professor, Singh Gurdeep, Professor and Head Department of Environmental Science and Engineering Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand. India Online published on 3 January, 2012. Abstract Coal is the prime source of energy in India. Opencast mining of coal damage a large land surface area, displace people from their natural home and cause agricultural losses. This raises a number of environmental challenges, including soil erosion, dust, noise, and water pollution impacts on local biodiversity. Generation of dump waste from opencast mines in Jharia coalfield threatens the social sustainability of land use pattern in many ways. The overburden dumps formed outside the open pits besides occupying the lands alter the surface topography and contribute to the environmental degradation. In the present paper authors have attempted to study the impact of physical properties of soil and his effect on the growth of some selected grasses over mine dumps. Bulk density plays a significant role in growth of selected grasses as observed during this experiment. Top Keywords Coal, Opencast mines, Overburden materials, Bulk density, Cymbopogan citrates. Top |