Biodiversity of Grasses and Associated Vegetation on Different Aged Soil Dumns from Sonepur Bazari OCP, Raniganj Coalfield

Five abandoned internal and external soil dump sites ranging from 2 years to 21 years in Sonepur Bazari OCP were selected from Raniganj Coalfield to evaluate plant invasion, establishment and biodiversity on disturbed sites. The floristic diversity of grasses and other associated herbaceous flora mainly the leguminous was analyzed from different aged soil dumps in coal mining area. The study was with a view to assess the vegetation and suggest management strategy for speeding up the tree forms in the area. The soil dumps in the initial stages had low flora diversity in the outslope areas which were less, both in number and abundance. The site mainly consists of grasses vegetation and spares growth of herbaceous plants. The middle aged soil dumps showed the medium vegetation growth in grasses and herbaceous plants. The older aged soil dumps has dense vegetation with diversity in grasses, herbaceous plants and trees growth. The different aged mine soil dumps contains forty two types’ of different species. At the six sites, among the grasses are Eragrostis variabilis, Eragrostis pacepera, Eragrostis atropiodes, Eragrostis minor, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, and Cynodon dactylon, among the herbaceous plants were Panicum dichotomiflorum, Setaria paniculifera, Desmodium triflorum Mimosa pudica, Lantana camara, Calotropis procera, and Argemone Mexicana and for the trees species are Dalbergia sisso, Azardirachta indica, Ziziphus jujube, Acacia auriculiformis, Cassia seamea, and Acacia nilotica were dominating flora at 2 years and 21 years old mine soil dumps.