Restoration of a Basalt Quarry | Timba | Landscape India
RESTORATION OF A BASALT QUARRY
“What was once a barren quarry is now a protected forest.”
Location
Timba
Typology
Ecological Restoration
Site area
70 Hectares
There are close to 3000 mines in India that produce various minerals. Mines in Gujarat majorly produce limestone, silica sand, bauxite, and lignite amongst other minerals.
Close to Vadodara sits a former basalt quarry that speaks to the resilience of nature; a site that forces one to question the various manners in which we interact with nature.
In the making for close to 8 years - the site is a result of in-depth knowledge and a curated process that ultimately led to the rejuvenation of land and the creation of multiple micro-ecosystems.
The outcome was clear – to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. The process involved improving the quality of soil; allowing local species of grasses and trees to grow, to slowly regain control.
The top soil was layered on the rock; this top soil became mulch and created the micro-environments necessary for the growth of grasses, native shrubs, and trees.
A nearby stream was diverted to fill the quarry basin, and then stocked with fish.
The site is a rejection of the conventionally accepted hierarchy between man and nature. It allows for an inversing of this relationship; allowing human intervention in only so much as to protect the ecosystem that has now been created.
With the optimum amount of intervention, the site has rapidly undergone the various stages of succession.
It has allowed for interactions between the various forms of flora, and also flora and fauna.
