The roots of two kinds of 4years old shrubs(Caragana microphylla Lam.and Hippophae rhamnoides Linn.),which was artificially planted for soil and water conservation,were studied in the waste dumpof Strip Mine in Heidaigou.The roots quantity characteristics were examined.In addition,the biomechanicalproperties and corrosion studies were conducted on their representative roots to provide basic data and relatedparameters.The representative roots were selected according to the following procedures:(1)The root systems were divided into groups by an interval of 0.5mm;(2)The total root number,root length,surface area and dry weight were recorded and calculated for each group;(3)The representative roots were then selected as the group that had relatively high values in terms of the four parameters.The result showed thatthe representative roots levels were 0～0.5mm,0.5～1mm,1～1.5mm for Caragana microphylla Lam;and 0.5～1mm and 1～1.5mm for Hippophae rhamnoides Linn,respectively.It is suggested that the representative roots should be considered only if these two kinds of shrubs were studied in waste dump of StripMine in Heidaigou and other similar areas.