Landforms and vegetation development on spoil tip surfaces near Salgótarján (NE-Hungary)

Abstract

The high scenic quality of the Salgótarján physical environment is reduced by the the scars of former industrial workings in the form of conical industrial spoil tips. The material of these was accumulated as cinder and fine burnt residues of coal originated from power stations. This study examines the gemorphological stability and natural vegetational succession on two spoil cones. Distribution and areal cover of vegetation on the older cone is influenced both by the rate of degradation and exposure. More degraded, less steep slopes are already vegetated and the vegetation cover is expanding, whereas the less degraded surfaces host less vegetation cover and it consists only of herbaceous plants. As for exposure, I found that on the NW side arboreal plants characterized by water requirement are prevailing, whereas on the SW side there are herbaceous plants also with water requirement. The reason for this might be the nutrition yielded by the spoil, but further research is needed.