Sand mining disturbances and their effects on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a riparian forest of Iran

The major objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of sand mining disturbances on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi（AMF）. In addition, the proportional changes in the diversity of AMF to the distances from riverbanks were assessed. For this purpose, the riparian forest of the Maroon River, Iran was divided into three locations with a 200-meter wide zone in between. Thus, the locations studied were named Distance I（riverbank）, Distance II（intermediate）, and Distance III（farthest from riverbank）. In each of these distances, 10 Tamarix arceuthoides and Populus euphratica of each species were randomly selected. At the same time, soil and root samples were collected from the rhizosphere of the tree species studied. Results indicated that totally 13 AMF species were observed in T. arceuthoides and 19 AMF species were recorded in P. euphratica rhizosphere belonging to 6 genera and 6 families. In these AMF species, Glomus segmentatum, G. geosporum, G. rubiforme, G. nanolumen, G. spinuliferum, Claroideoglomus drummondii, Gigaspora gigantea and Acaulospora paulinae appeared only in P. euphratica rhizosphere, while G. multiforum and Claroideoglomus claroideum were observed only in T. arceuthoides rhizosphere. Moreover, Distance II had the least AMF species both in T. arceuthoides and in P. euphratica rhizospheres, and also the least spore density and root colonization rate. Our results are important in that they provide a list of resistant AMF species that could be used in the conservation of biodiversity.

Investigating spatial and temporal variations of soil moisture content in an arid mining area using an improved thermal inertia model

Mining operations can usually lead to environmental deteriorations. Underground mining activities could cause an extensive decrease in groundwater level and thus a dramatic variation in soil moisture content（SMC）. In this study, the spatial and temporal variations of SMC from 2001 to 2015 at two spatial scales（i.e., the Shendong coal mining area and the Daliuta Coal Mine） were analyzed using an improved thermal inertia model with a long-term series of Landsat TM/OLI（TM=Thematic Mapper and OLI=Operational Land Imager） data. Our results show that at large spatial scale（the Shendong coal mining area）, underground mining activities had insignificant negative impacts on SMC and that at small spatial scale（the Daliuta Coal Mine）, underground mining activities had significant negative impacts on SMC. Trend analysis of SMC demonstrated that areas with decreasing trend of SMC were mainly distributed in the mined area, indicating that underground mining is a primary cause for the drying trend in the mining region in this arid environment.

Prediction and prevention of rockburst in metal mines--A case study of Sanshandao gold mine

Rockburst is a kind of artificial earthquake induced by human activities,such as mining excavations.The mechanism of rockburst induced by mining disturbance is revealed in terms of energy in this context.For understanding the rockburst mechanism,two necessary conditions for the occurrence of rockburst are presented:(1)the rock mass has the capability to store huge amount of energy and possesses a strong bumping-prone characteristic when damaged;and(2)the geological conditions in the mining area have favorable geo-stress environments that can form high-stress concentration area and accumulate huge energy.These two conditions are also the basic criteria for prediction of rockburst.In view of energy analysis,it is observed that artificial and natural earthquakes have similar regularities in many aspects,such as the relationship between the energy value and burst magnitude.By using the relationship between energy and magnitude of natural earthquake,rockburst is predicted by disturbance energy analysis.A practical example is illustrated using the above-mentioned theorem and technique to predict rockburst in a gold mine in China.Finally,the prevention and control techniques of rockburst are also provided based on the knowledge of the rockburst mechanism.