The Semyonovsky - Golovkovsky brown - coal deposit is located within the boundaries of the Dnieper basin geological group and is located in the Alexandria mining region on the watershed of the Ingulets and Beshka rivers. Overburden rocks are loess - like, red - brown and glauconite - containing loams, kaolin and carbonaceous clays quartz, glauconite - containing and carbonaceous sands. The total area of reclaimed land was about 1006 hectares, of which 39 % was used for agriculture, 2 % was pasture and 59 % under forest reclamation. Geomorphologic assessment of the studied area was performed using Sentinel-1 satellite radar interferometry. Multispectral imagery of Sentinel -2 satellite system was used for remote assessment within the study area. We assessed the state of the Robina pseudoacacia plants growing under various forest conditions, in plantations created on the reclaimed landscapes of the Semenovsky - Golovkovsky brown coal basin. The processes of self-regulation and restoration of fertility on the reclaimed lands at the first stages of their biological development were slowed down. This significantly reduced the resistance of phytocenoses, both pure and mixed, to the conditions of the environment to which they were exposed. A comparison of the inventory stem wood of the black locust showed the superiority of monoculture plantations to mixed stands of pine - black locust and maple - black locust. The forest-forming process progresses with age. Remote assessment of the territories was conducted to assess the future prospects of biological conservation of reclaimed lands. The influence of the anthropogenic factor is observed throughout the section and is manifested in the man-made formation of the relief, reshaping of dumps, removal to the surface of overburden rocks. It is established that the height values can vary from 85 m to 213 m. 82.8 % of the surveyed area has not undergone significant changes in relief. About 15.5 % of the territory was under the influence of alluvial - diluvia processes. There have been corresponding changes in the share of vegetation according to vegetation cover fraction (VCF) over the past three years. The highest moisture content at the level of 0.2 - 0.3 relative units in 2015 was recorded in the territory occupying 78.4 % . Meanwhile, the shares of land cover with this level of humidity increased by almost 9% during the following 3 years to 2018. The highest density of vegetative cover was recorded in the North -Western part of the study area of forest reclamation. Thus, considering the potential suitability of the area for forest reclamation, we should note the important role of geomorphological, geological and water resources for the growth and development (formation) of plant communities.

The purpose of this paper is to study the formation of herbage cover in forty-year-old plantation of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), which has been growing under various forest growth conditions of artificial edaphotopes, which differed in stratigraphy and dumping depth on the reclaimed dump in the Western Donbass. The dump consisted of «empty» carefully planned mine rock; on its surface one-, two- and three-tiered structures of reclaimed land have been artificially formed. The maximum number of species in grass canopy of the black locust plantations has been recorded on technosol with typical chernozem. The formation of the grass canopy in plantations growing on technosol, consisted only of mine rock, the number of species depended on the power of edaphotope: with a decrease in dumping, a decrease in plant species has been observed. All studied variants are dominated by perennials. Under more favorable soil conditions, (variants 1 and 2) plants without vegetative movement dominate. With a decrease in the depth of dumping, the percentage of plants with slight vegetative movement increases. The representatives of plants with vegetative movement can be found under all forest growth conditions created on reclaimed lands. A specific trait of lithosol (variants 2, 3, 4) is an increase in mesoxerophytes, xerophytes and oligamegatrophs with a decrease in the power of dumping. Heliophytes predominate on studied variants with chernozem and loam with a dumping of one meter. Species partially demanding light have a significant advantage with the decrease in the power of dumping on lithosol variants with depth less than 0.6–0.3 meters. Among the coenomorphs, the dominance of ruderal and steppe complexes have been revealed. In the first case it is explained by the influence of anthropogenic factors (fire), –followed by the first stage of the restoration, namely colonization by weed plants; in the second case, it is caused by the influence of surrounding phytocenosis of undisturbed land and presence of herbal plants seeds from fertile soil level in pedosoil, which set the direction of succession towards the formation of zonal communities. Meadow and psammophytic coenotypes involved in the formation of flora indicate different types of forest growth conditions created by artificial soils.

The purpose of our research was to study the long-term dynamics of the herbage cover at different stages of growth and development of poplar plantations on the types of artificial soils of the forest reclamation area. The object of research is flora phytotoxic dumps of «Blagodatna» coal mine, where imported substrates such as sand-clay, clay loam, red-brown earth and humic soil in various combination were applied to create reclamations layer on the surface of the mine dumps (Dnipropetrovsk region, Pavlograd region).  Type 1: 30 cm of soil mass of typical chernozem (SMTC), 50 cm of red-brown earth, 80 cm of alluvial sand-clay and sand, and deeper there is the coal mine  solid; type 2: 30 cm of SMTC, 80 cm of sand, and mine solid deeper; type 3: 30 cm of SMTC, 60 cm of alluvial sand-clay, 60 cm of clay, and deeper there is mine solid; type 4: 40 cm of SMTC, 30 cm of red-brown earth, 40 cm of sand and mine solid deeper; type 5: 55 cm of alluvial sand-clay, deeper there is mine solid. Stationary observations were carried out in poplar plantations of 8-, 16-, 27- and 34-year-old age on permanent trial plots. They were presented with a black poplar and seven hybrid poplars. The research has established that climatic conditions, influence of surrounding phytocenoses of undisturbed lands, inheritance by pedozems of seed material of grass plants with a fertile layer of the soil set the direction of succession on the way of formation of zonal herbal group. The long-term growth of the role of the arid element indicates the formation of a structure close to the zonal flora. The formation of the flora of technical soils in poplar plantations occurs in four stages: the first is pioneer plant communities, which begins with the completion of the technical phase of reclamation and confined to the stages of forest formation; the second is a simple grouping that is associated with the development of the stand until the closure of canopy and inter-row soil cultivation; the third is a complex grouping that is fraught with pole wood stage of stand development and partial getting sparse; the fourth in our studies, is partially closed when gradually tree plants disappear and their influence disappears. In addition to the influence of tree vegetation, its age and stage of development, the formation of lower layers of biogeocenoses is significantly influenced by the conditions stipulated by the stratigraphy and the power of artificial substrates, as well as the elements of the landscape, both created initially and formed as a result of the fragmentary subsidence of the dump territory. These factors, depending on their dynamic changes, regulate correlation between various groups of biomorphs, climamorphs, trofomorphs, hygromorphs, heliomorph and zenomorphs in the grass cover. Created forest vegetation conditions on the plateau and the upper third of the dump do not meet the needs of hybrid poplars under conditions of acute shortage of moisture, which are characteristic of the steppe zone. Fast-growing poplar hybrids can be used as a pioneer culture up to 15–20 years of age.

У результаті досліджень було встановлено, що формування кореневої системи21-річних насаджень обліпихи крушиноподібної в техноземах залежить від якості посадочного матеріалу і глибини його посадки в ґрунт; від потужності і якості відсип-ки древньоалювіальних відкладень і родючого шару ґрунту на поверхню шахтнихпорід, яка є нижньою межею корененаселеного шару рекультивованого едафотопу ітим самим обмежувачем зростання і розвитку рослин.

Проведено біоекоморфічний аналіз флори, який виявив особливості формуван-ня травостою за 30-річний період у насадженнях обліпихи крушиноподібної на різ-них стадіях її розвитку, культивованої в різних типах лісорослинних умов, створе-них штучними ґрунтами при рекультивації фітотоксичних відвалів.