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Dust-related impacts of mining operations on rangeland vegetation and soil: a case study in Yazd province, Iran

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Abstract

Destructive mining operations are affecting large areas of natural ecosystems, especially in arid lands. The present study aims at investigating the impact of iron mine exploitation on vegetation and soil in Nodoushan (Yazd province, central Iran). Based on the dominant wind, topography, slope, vegetation and soil of the area, soil and vegetation parameters close to the mine were recorded and analyzed according to the distance from the mine. To obtain the vegetation cover, a transect and plot on the windward and leeward side of the mine, with 100 m intervals and three replicates at each sampling location was used, yielding 96 soil samples. The amount of dust on the vegetation, the seed weight and seed germination rate of Artemisia sp. as the dominant species within the area, and the soil microbial respiration were measured. The relationship between vegetation cover and distance from the mine was not linear, which was due to an interplay between pollution from the mine and local grazing, while other factors did increase or decrease linearly. The results showed that, as the distance from the mine increased, the weight of 1000 seeds of Artemisia sp. was significantly increased from 271 to 494 mg and seed germination rate and soil microbial respiration were significantly increased from 11.7 to 48.4% and from 4.5 to 5.9 mg CO2 g−1 soil day−1, respectively, while the amount of dust significantly decreased from 43.5 to 6 mg (g plant)−1 between the distance of 100 and 600 m from the mine in the leeward direction. A similar trend was observed in the windward side, though negative effects were lower compared to the same distance along the leeward sample locations. The direct and indirect effects on plant growth and health from mining impacts generally decreased linearly with increasing distance from the mine, up to at least 600 m. Our study serves as a showcase for the potential of bio-indicators as a cost-effective method for assessing impacts of mining activities on the surrounding environment.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Research Centre of Ardakan University for supporting this project. The authors thank Dr Fatahi A, Mr Adelzadeh A, Bagheri R for their supports during the study and field campaign. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

    Shahab IbrahimPour

  2. Department of Nature Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ardakan University, P.O. Box 184, Ardakan, Iran

    Ali Reza KhavaninZadeh & Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi

  3. Member of Medicinal and Industrial Plants Research Institute, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

    Ali Reza KhavaninZadeh

  4. Department of Geosciences, Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi

  5. Research Group PLECO (Plants and Ecosystems), Universiteit Antwerpen, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Hans J De Boeck

  6. National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Alvina Gul

Authors
  1. Shahab IbrahimPour
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  2. Ali Reza KhavaninZadeh
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  3. Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi
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  4. Hans J De Boeck
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  5. Alvina Gul
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Contributions

Shahab IbrahimPour, Ali reza KhavaninZadeh and Ruhollah Thagizadeh contributed to the process for site selection and sampling method; Shahab IbrahimPour and Ali reza KhavaninZadeh conducted fieldwork and conceptualized the graphic depiction of the protocol; Shahb IbrahimPour, Alireza khavaninZadeh and Hans De Boeck analyzed and interpreted data, Alireza KhavaninZadeh wrote the initial draft and created figures; Hans De Boeck and Alvina Gul read and edited the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript and they read and approved it.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Reza KhavaninZadeh.

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IbrahimPour, S., KhavaninZadeh, A.R., Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, R. et al. Dust-related impacts of mining operations on rangeland vegetation and soil: a case study in Yazd province, Iran. Environ Earth Sci 80, 467 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09758-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09758-5

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