Effects of Revegetation on Abandoned Man--Made Slopes of Chromite Mine in Sukinda Region, India

Abstract

Opencast mines generate a huge quantity of waste material, which is dumped in the form of heap-like structure. Stability of these heap slopes, which are prone to failure, is of utmost importance for safe running of opencast mine. One of the most widely and accepted stabilization techniques used in abandoned man-made waste dump slopes of opencast mine is the process of revegetation. This study focuses on the impact of root depth on various physical parameters of the waste dump slope materials generated in the Chromite mine of Sukinda region, Jajpur, Odisha, India. Three inactive dumps of Sukinda region were selected for studying the effect of root on the stability of the inactive dumps in the area. Roots of Acacia auriculiformis with soil were collected from all the three dumps for estimating their physical properties. Plant root penetration reduces the moisture content, decreases the void ratio of the dump materials, reduces the porosity of the dump material, and affects the liquid limit and plastic limit of the dump materials. Although the bulk density of the dump material increases with the penetration of plant root, it gets compensated with the increase in other physical properties of the dump materials. © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Ashwani Kumar Tiwari, T.N. Singh and Abhay Kumar Singh; individual chapters, the contributors.