This book, the result of studies undertaken on behalf of the European Commission, examines the current 'state of the art' techniques for the restoration of despoiled lands arising from the coal and steel industries. It provides technical guidance to aid the process of the regeneration of the coal and steel communities of Europe. The chapters are fully cross referenced in the text, and where more technical or specific detail is provided, this has been placed into boxes rather than in the main text.The book will be of great interest to environmental scientists and engineers, and to all those who are involved in mining, mineral waste, soil pollution and waste management and disposal.

This text is the first in a series that sets out to highlight work being done to restore land damaged by human activity, and to minimize further damage. Each volume explores a land management problem from a scientific perspective. This work investigates surface coal mining and its effects.

Mining activities significantly impact the environment; they generate huge quantities of spoil, promote deforestation and the loss of agricultural production, as well as releasing contaminants that result in the loss of valuable soil resources. These negative impacts are now being recognized and this book shows how corrective action can be taken. The introduction of sustainable mining requires mitigation strategies that start during the mine planning stage and extend to after mineral extraction has ceased, and post-closure activities are being executed. Reclamation of Mine-impacted Land for Ecosystem Recovery covers: methods of rejuvenation of mine wasteland including different practices of physical, chemical and ecological engineering methods; benefits of rejuvenation: stabilization of land surfaces; pollution control; aesthetic improvement; general amenity; plant productivity; and carbon sequestration as well as restoring biodiversity and ecosystem function; best management practices and feasible solutions to the impacts of mining which will reduce the pollution load by reducing the discharge rate and the pollutant concentration; reduce erosion and sedimentation problems, and result in improved abandoned mine lands; and ecosystem development. The authors explain how mining impacts on soil properties and how soil carbon reserves/soil fertility can be restored when mining has ceased. Restoration involves a coordinated approach that recognizes the importance of key soil properties to enable re-vegetation to take place rapidly and ecosystems to be established in a low cost and sustainable way. This book’s unique combination of the methods for reclamation technologies with policies and best practice worldwide will provide the background and the guidance needed by scientists, researchers and engineers engaged in land reclamation, as well as by industry managers.

Coal and Peat Fires: A Global Perspective is a compelling collection of research conducted by scientists andengineers around the world. The first of four volumes in the collection, Coal – Geology and Combustion, features chapters that discuss the origin of coal and coal fires; mining and use of coal; combustion and coal petrology; environmental and health impacts of coal fires; combustion by-products; geochemical, geophysical, and engineering methodologies for studying coal fires; the control, extinguishment, and political implications of coal fires; and much more. - Integrates pioneering coal-fires research, with topical coverage of remote sensing, policymaking, and more - Serves as an essential guide to the socio-economic and geo-environmental impacts of coal fires

With its incorporation into architecture on a grand scale during the long nineteenth century, steel forever changed the way we perceive and inhabit buildings. In this book, Peter H. Christensen shows that even as architects and engineers were harnessing steel’s incredible properties, steel itself was busy transforming the natural world. Precious Metal explores this quintessentially modernist material—not for the heroic structural innovations it facilitated but for a deeper understanding of the role it played in the steady change of the earth. Focusing on the formative years of the architectural steel economy and on the corporate history of German steel titans Krupp and Thyssen, Christensen investigates the ecological interrelationship of artificial and natural habitats, mediated by steel. He traces steel through six distinct phases: birth, formation, display, dispersal, construction, and return. By following the life of steel from the collection of raw minerals to the distribution and disposal of finished products, Christensen challenges the traditional narrative that steel was simply the primary material responsible for architectural modernism. Based on the premise that building materials are as much a part of the natural world as they are of a building, this groundbreaking book rewrites an important chapter of architectural history. It will be welcomed by specialists in architectural history, nineteenth-century studies, environmental history, German studies, modernist studies, and the Anthropocene.

Urban land is an environmental key topic considering the increasing urbani sation of our world. The amounting pressure on resources especially in the urban environment demand awareness across technical and political sectors and solid concepts for workable solutions. This book will address those people, who are key in coping with the challenges of sustainable urban land use management: Professionals in the growing field of urban land recycling and graduate students from different disciplines including urban planning, environmental sciences and geotechnics. Processes that lead to urban land degradation include the extraction of resources, their transformation into goods, the production of waste and conflicts in the allocation of land. Industrial soil pollution, soil sealing and urban sprawl pose serious challenges to resource management in urban environments. The possible implications are not necessarily restricted to the urban area but do have feedback into the countryside. The reduction of arable land in urban peripheries often causes enhanced pressure on back-country natural ecosystems such as forests, grass- and wetlands. Urban land recycling especially in the developing world is to be seen in the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Ifwe don't get a proper sustainable use of urban land, as well as of water and other natural resources that relate to them, sustainable development will not be reached.

This volume is concerned with sites on, or below, which there has been previous industrial activity leading to some permanent effects on the ground. A wide range of problems and impacts makes treatment of contaminated and derelict land a very complex issue. This volume presents the proceedings of Green 2, the second in a four-yearly series of international symposia that discuss aspects of geotechnical engineering intimately related to the environment.

The continuously growing human population along the world’s coasts will exacerbate the impact of human activities on all coastal environments. Restoration activities will therefore become increasingly important. In particular, sandy shores and coastal dunes will require significant restoration efforts because they are preferred sites for human settlement, industrial and urban development and tourism. With this book experts in the field present a comprehensive review of restoration studies and activities, where ‘successful’ and ‘failed’ studies or approaches from around the world are contrasted and compared. A major asset the book provides is a compendium of studies showing that coastal dune restoration has many definitions and thus leads to many different actions. This volume addresses those with an interest in conservation ecology and biology, coastal dune dynamics and geomorphology, and coastal management who are seeking information on the different strategies for coastal dune restoration applied in different regions of the world. Finally, it will be a valuable resource for coastal scientists and planners, as well as for local and state officials, residents of coastal communities, environmental advocates and developers.

As the pressure to conserve agricultural land and green-field sites has grown it has become increasingly important to reclaim land that has been damaged by past industrial usage, e.g. areas of mining subsidence, tailings dams and lagoons. Furthermore the need to conserve primary aggregates is providing an impetus for re-use of waste materials in engineered construction.This book is the proceedings of the GREEN3, the third in a four-yearly series of international symposia that discuss aspects of geotechnical engineering intimately related to the environment.