Initial mapping of secondary succession in
places disturbed by mining of the Khan Khentii Strictly
Protected Area in Mongolia shows a possible innovative
direction taken by afforestation in order to prevent further
expansion of the Gobi Desert in northern Mongolia. The
study results from the knowledge of secondary succession
of mined areas, which are classified as the remains and
consequences of prospecting and mining work dated to the
Soviet times. Ongoing succession on sites affected by
mining is very slow. In quarry dumps and canavas, herb
layer has not been recovered despite the fact that the
prospecting and mining activities had finished more than
30 years ago. Herbs biodiversity is very poor in these areas.
Conversely, representatives of the tree layer, especially
Larix sibirica
and
Populus tremula
, are found far from the
continuous forest; they colonized sites located within the
aridized steppe. We assume that the main factor of successful
tree growth on the mining activities remains consists
in the humidity condensation due to and caused by the
specific shape of the canavas and dumps. Trees prosperity
on these extreme habitats can be ensured particularly in the
early stages of growth when the tree roots are unable to
reach the groundwater table. Detail mapping of quantitative
and qualitative parameters of trees shows that the
dump is an ideal shape of self-watering condensation
mound for forest growth and can prevent the desertification
as well.
