Case study on agricultural ecosystem rehabilitation of coal mine area in East China

Many old coal‐mining corporations in East China were previously flatlands and farmlands in a dominant position. After mining, the agricultural ecosystem deteriorated severely, and problems such as farmlands subsiding, bridges and culverts breaking, farmhouses damaged by crevices and so on, can be observed everywhere. Agricultural ecosystem rehabilitation (AER) becomes an important issue for sustainable development in this area because land subsidence impacts on agricultural production, and farmers who lose prime lands become an unstable factor with regard to social stability. In this paper the Xuzhou coal mine area is analyzed as an example. This paper poses the engineering reclamation measures and reclaimed land use forms. Non‐filling methods, supplemented with filling methods, are main engineering measures for AER. Reclaimed land use types include planting vegetable, wheat, rice, cotton, soybean, and treating the foundations used for new village sites. This paper introduces the experimental effect of drainage, construction methods and planting in the Tongshan reclaimed area.