Similarity Analysis of Vegetation in Different Tailings of Iron Mine and Unmined Site in Gol- Gohar Region

The development of mineral sites and the increasing mining tailing emissions have created a seriesof environmental problems and health-related issues. Nowadays, the ecological restoration of mining tailingshas become one of the urgent tasks for mine managers and environmental engineers all over the world. Thepresent study aims to evaluate vegetation of different iron ore tailing in the Gol- Gohar mining complex. Forthis purpose, different tailing Depots were selected in Gol- Gohar mining region. by using ۲m۲ plots in eachdifferent tailing depot, plant species were recorded. All plant data was transferred to Pc- Ord softwaer۴۰ plantspecies belong to ۱۸ genera were recorded in the adjacent un-mine site as a control area. To evaluate thesimilarity of vegetation composition, a two-way cluster analysis was performed and a vegetation distancematrix was obtained. According to the distance matrix, the Overburden vegetation with ۰.۴۹ distance has thehighest similarity to the control area and supports a larger number of plant species (۲۱ species). Wet tailingsand un-stabilized dry tailings have the least similarity and least plant diversity, while mulch-stabilized drytailings support a larger number of plant species (۴ species). The results show that to restore the vegetation ofdifferent tailings, local raw materials and overburden should be used due to their nutrients and strong seedbank.

Keywords:

Revegetation , Mining , Iron ore tailing , Eecosystem restoration , Gol-Gohar