Mining is an essential activity to the production of metals, goods, and infrastructure developments that advance the quality of life in a society. A mine site is considered abandoned when ores/minerals mining and other processing activities have ceased, and the area is exposed to toxic wastes due to dumping in pit cavities. It includes the entire soil, water, and surrounding watersheds contaminated by the mineral extraction processes. Due to the development and continuous expansion of the mining industry, an increasing quantity of solid waste and raw sewage containing hazardous metals have entered surrounding soil, subsurface water, underground water, and air; which causes serious risks to the ecological environment. Hence, rehabilitation of mined land is a primary environmental concern.
Compared with traditional chemical and physical remediation technology, which is complicated and may lead to secondary pollution, microbial technology has gradually attracted researchers due to the inherent characteristics of low-cost and environmental-friendliness. Indigenous or exogenous microorganisms can effectively detoxify the contaminants in mines through biosorption, redox, solubilization, bio-immobilization, bio-accumulation, and chelation. Furthermore, flexible and gentle microorganisms can be combined with other remediation technologies, e.g., plant and nanomaterial, to remove contaminants. At present, the microbial technology to remediate the mine ecological environment is extensively studied and applied in solving the problems of toxic substances accumulation and bare soil vegetation restoration in different mining areas worldwide.
Microorganisms are ubiquitous and diverse; hence, the microbial remediation technology is simple to operate and environmentally friendly. Inoculation of indigenous or exogenous microorganisms in mines will help to remove the contaminants and maintain the prolonged ecological balance. However, due to the complexity of microorganism communities and the harsh and changeable mine conditions, the process modes and mechanisms to deal with different mine contamination are not the same. Many problems have remained unresolved in-field application. Therefore, it is imperative to select suitable remediation methods according to different mine contamination conditions. The ecological rehabilitation of mine has been a timely topic by focusing on the environmental and geological microorganism research in recent decades. This Research Topic aims to better promote the academic exchange of counterparts and expand the impact of ecological restoration in the field of microbiology.
To promote the development of the field of microbial remediation of mine ecological environment, we encourage the submission of high-quality original research papers, including but not limited to the following topics:
• Microbial remediation of mine contamination (such as soil and water contamination, etc.).
• Mine vegetation and ecological restoration assisted by microorganisms.
• Optimization of factors and conditions affecting microbial remediation of mines contamination.
• Research on microbial remediation mechanisms in mining areas (such as molecular and metabolic mechanisms).
• New applications to remediate the mine contamination using microorganisms combined with other technologies.
• Microbial remediation processes and their environmental assessment in the laboratory or natural mines environments.
Mining is an essential activity to the production of metals, goods, and infrastructure developments that advance the quality of life in a society. A mine site is considered abandoned when ores/minerals mining and other processing activities have ceased, and the area is exposed to toxic wastes due to dumping in pit cavities. It includes the entire soil, water, and surrounding watersheds contaminated by the mineral extraction processes. Due to the development and continuous expansion of the mining industry, an increasing quantity of solid waste and raw sewage containing hazardous metals have entered surrounding soil, subsurface water, underground water, and air; which causes serious risks to the ecological environment. Hence, rehabilitation of mined land is a primary environmental concern.
Compared with traditional chemical and physical remediation technology, which is complicated and may lead to secondary pollution, microbial technology has gradually attracted researchers due to the inherent characteristics of low-cost and environmental-friendliness. Indigenous or exogenous microorganisms can effectively detoxify the contaminants in mines through biosorption, redox, solubilization, bio-immobilization, bio-accumulation, and chelation. Furthermore, flexible and gentle microorganisms can be combined with other remediation technologies, e.g., plant and nanomaterial, to remove contaminants. At present, the microbial technology to remediate the mine ecological environment is extensively studied and applied in solving the problems of toxic substances accumulation and bare soil vegetation restoration in different mining areas worldwide.
Microorganisms are ubiquitous and diverse; hence, the microbial remediation technology is simple to operate and environmentally friendly. Inoculation of indigenous or exogenous microorganisms in mines will help to remove the contaminants and maintain the prolonged ecological balance. However, due to the complexity of microorganism communities and the harsh and changeable mine conditions, the process modes and mechanisms to deal with different mine contamination are not the same. Many problems have remained unresolved in-field application. Therefore, it is imperative to select suitable remediation methods according to different mine contamination conditions. The ecological rehabilitation of mine has been a timely topic by focusing on the environmental and geological microorganism research in recent decades. This Research Topic aims to better promote the academic exchange of counterparts and expand the impact of ecological restoration in the field of microbiology.
To promote the development of the field of microbial remediation of mine ecological environment, we encourage the submission of high-quality original research papers, including but not limited to the following topics:
• Microbial remediation of mine contamination (such as soil and water contamination, etc.).
• Mine vegetation and ecological restoration assisted by microorganisms.
• Optimization of factors and conditions affecting microbial remediation of mines contamination.
• Research on microbial remediation mechanisms in mining areas (such as molecular and metabolic mechanisms).
• New applications to remediate the mine contamination using microorganisms combined with other technologies.
• Microbial remediation processes and their environmental assessment in the laboratory or natural mines environments.