Stimulation of self-healing of disturbed land after sand-and-gravel extraction in steppe zone

The article describes the research findings on self-healing of disturbed land in the steppe zone in the Irkutsk Region as a case-study of an abandoned sand-and-gravel quarry. It is found that in natural healing, moistening of the bottom surface of the quarry occurs nonuni-formly, which results in the formation of local zones with higher moisture content and leads to dotty revegetation. To stimulate self-healing, it is proposed to perform coarse levelling of the quarry bottom, with ridging using an angle dozer. An analytical design procedure is offered to calculate the area of valley, which allows a high accuracy (agreement with the semigraphical method) of determination of ripping parameters depending on the internal friction angle of soil, ripping depth, ripper width and the degree of ripping. The average entry of water in the quarry from rainfall in the warm season is calculated in the actual condition of the quarry bottom and after ridging. The difference between the values of water entry in the quarry with relatively horizontal and ridged bottom surface was 11%. It is shown that creation of the ridged microrelief facilitates uniform distribution of rainfall over the area of the quarry bottom, improves moistening of soil and has a beneficial effect on self-healing of the disturbed land surface. 

Bolotnev A. Yu., Nechaev K. B., Batjargal D., Olzoev B. N. Stimulation of selfhealing of disturbed land after sand-and-gravel extraction in steppe zone. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2026;(8):41-52. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2026_8_0_41.

A.Yu. Bolotnev¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, e-mail: abolotnev@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4250-6216,
K.B. Nechaev¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, e-mail: istuproekt@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6661-4345,
D. Batjargal¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: doogii.do@mail.ru,
B.N. Olzoev¹, Cand. Sci. (Geogr.), Associate Professor, e-mail: kosmos@istu.edu, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7105-6341,
¹ Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 664074, Irkutsk, Russia. 

B.N. Olzoev, e-mail: kosmos@istu.edu.

1. Kocheshnov A. S. Assessment of social, environmental and economic development of coal-mining regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Russian Mining Industry Journal. 2023, no. 2, pp. 112—119. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.30686/1609-9192-2023-2-112-119.

2. Kumacheva V. D. Revegetation cover during ecogenetic succession in a technogenic area in the Lower Don region. AgroEcoInfo: Electronic scientific and production journal, 2023. [In Russ], available at: http://agroecoinfo.ru/STATYI/2023/6/st_610.pdf (accessed 31.01.2026).

3. Gavrilova O. I. Restoration of the vegetation cover of sand and gravel quarries. Research reports of Forest Engineering Faculty of Petrozavodsk State University. 2010, no. 8, pp. 21—25. [In Russ].

4. Sengupta M. Environmental impacts of mining: Monitoring, restoration, and control. UK: CRC Press. 2021, 374 p. DOI: 10.1201/9781003164012.

5. Agus C., Wulandari D., Cahyanty P. A. B., Bantara I. Environmental site engineering and integrated bio-cycles management for rehabilitation of degraded Tin Mining land in tropical ecosystem. IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science. 2019, vol. 398, no. 1, article 012013. DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/398/1/012013.

6. Hu J., Ye B., Bai Z., Hui J. Comparison of the vegetation index of reclamation mining areas calculated by multi-source remote sensing data. Land. 2022, vol. 11, article 325. DOI: 10.3390/land11030325.

7. Dos Anjos Leal O., Miguel P., Rodrigues M. F., Locks Guimarães R. M., Spinelli Pinto L. F., Silva T. P., Brito Pinto M. A., Nachtigall S. D., Stumpf L. First validation of the method Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure in coal mining area using a long-term field revegetation experiment as testbed. Soil and Tillage Research. 2025, vol. 246, article 106347. DOI: 10.1016/j.still.2024.106347.

8. Gonchar N. V., Pikalov V. A., Sokolovsky A. V., Tereshina M. A. Ecologically balanced geotechnology for the development of natural and man-made georesources. Russian Mining Industry Journal. 2024, no. 4, pp. 68—73. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.30686/1609-9192-2024-4-68-73.

9. Sokolova N. A., Gossen I. N., Sokolov D. A. Assessment of the suitability of vegetation indices for identifying the soil-ecological state of the surface of anthracite deposit dumps. Ecology and Industry of Russia. 2020, no. 24(1), pp. 62—68. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/202129102021.

10. Kapitonova O., Aksarina K. On some physical and chemical properties of soils of sandy outcrops of the West Siberian northern regions. Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change. 2019, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 28—37. DOI: 10.17816/edgcc10533.

11. Dmitrakova Ya. A., Sumina O. I. Overgrowing of sand quarries: the influence of relief on the distribution of colonizing species. Advances in current natural sciences. 2012, no. 11, pp. 86—88. [In Russ].

12. Sizov O. S. Dynamics of overgrowing of dry sand quarries in the northern taiga conditions of Western Siberia for the period from 1985 to 2021. Geographical Environment and Living Systems. 2025, no. 1, pp. 41—52. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.18384/2712-7621-2025-1-41-52.

13. Domnin I. A. Dynamics of overgrowth of a sand quarry in the Borovsky district. Sbornik dokladov I Mezhdunarodnoy molodezhnoy konferentsii «Geneticheskie i radiatsionnye tekhnologii v sel'skom khozyaystve» [Collection of reports of the I International Youth Conference «Genetic and radiation technologies in agriculture»], Obninsk, 2022, pp. 268—269. [In Russ].

14. Soromotin A. V., Lanza G. R., Sizov O. S., Lobotrosova S. A., Abakumov E. V., Zverev A. O., Yakimov A. S., Konstantinov A. O., Kurasova A. O., Prihod'ko N. V., Salavatulin V. M., Varentsov M. I., Alharbi S. A., Alotaibi Kh. D., Kuzyakov Ya. Cyclic and linear trajectories of ecosystem evolution on sand dunes in Siberian taiga: A comprehensive analysis. Science of the Total Environment. 2024, vol. 928, article 172265. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172265.

15. Talgamer B. L., Murzin N. V., Roslavtseva Yu. G., Semenov M. E. Cutback angles for slope flattening during rehabilitation of degraded landscape due to open pit mining in friable sediments. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021, no. 3, pp. 128—141. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236-1493-2021-3-0-128-141.

16. Rozinkina E. P., Bashegurov K. A., Kotova V. S., Osipenko R. A., Zalesov S. V. Technology of reclamation of disturbed lands on the example of a sand quarry in the West Siberian northern taiga plain forest region. The Bulletin of Izhevsk state agricultural academy. 2024, no. 4 (80), pp. 81—87. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.48012/1817-5457_2024_4_81-87.

17. Batjargal D., Talgamer B. L., Olzoev B. N., Bolotnev A. Yu. Analysis of the degree of overgrowth of lands disturbed during the extraction of building materials in the steppe zone of Mongolia. News of the Ural State Mining University. 2024, no. 1 (73), pp. 114—120. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.21440/2307-2091-2024-1-114-120.

18. Zarovnyaev B. N., Shubin G. V., Budikina M. E., Sobakina M. P., Danilov A. A. Estimation of the efficiency of disturbed land reclamation. 21st International Scientific Multidisciplinary Conference on Earth and Planetary Sciences SGEM 2021. Bulgaria, 2021, pp. 371—378. DOI: 10.5593/ sgem2021/1.1/s03.050.

19. Chuvilin A. G. Environmental issues of gold mining, transportation, processing and use at the Ozernovskoye ore field of the Karaginsky district. Bulletin of Kamchatka state technical university. 2012, no. 21, pp. 78—89. [In Russ].

20. Antoninova N. Yu., Kornilkov S. V., Kuznetsova Ya. A., Shubina L. A. Environmental aspects of reclamation of overburden dumps. Problems of Subsoil Use. 2024, no. 1(40), pp. 57—66. [In Russ].

21. Batjargal D., Talgamer B. L., Bolotnev A. Yu., Olzoev B. N. An assessment of self-organized vegetation of lands disturbed by mining operations in the conditions of the steppe zone. International Research Journal. 2024, no. 6(144). [In Russ]. URL: https://research-journal.org/archive/6-144-2024-june/10.60797/IRJ.2024.144.19 (дата обращения: 08.05.2026). DOI: 10.60797/IRJ.2024.144.19.

22. Lichaev V. R., Esenovskaya L. N., Chikin Yu. M. Rukovodstvo po vyboru i proektirovaniyu sistem vodosnabzheniya, vodootvedeniya i sposobam vodopodgotovki pri razrabotke rossypnykh mestorozhdeniy [Guide to the selection and design of water supply and wastewater disposal systems and water treatment methods in the development of placer deposits], Irkutsk, 1990, 160 p.

23. Surashov N. T., Tolymbek D. N. Development of complex indicators and evaluation of efficiency for dump-type earthmoving and transport machines. Vestnik SibADI. 2022, no. 19(6), pp. 814—827. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.26518/2071-7296-2022-19-6-814-827.