Impacts of Sand Mining on Riverine Ecosystems: A Short Review

Sand mining (aggregates regardless of particle size) from riverine ecosystems, leads to significant environmental impacts and is thus receiving increasing attention globally. The present paper summarizes the results of literature review addressing the impacts of sand mining on riverine ecosystems including river morphology, water quality, biodiversity, soil and landscape. The rapid rise in urbanization and construction of large-scale infrastructure projects are driving increasing demands for construction materials worldwide. The increasing demand of riverine resources (sand, gravel and boulder) is one of the main reasons for illegal mining that effects the health, physical process and different function of rivers, degradation of the riparian zone, degradation of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. The aim of the present paper was to provide an understanding of the impacts sand mining activities on riverine ecosystems and to guide future research directions