Assessing the Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity Benefits and Potential Impacts of Forests Re-Established on a Mine Tailings Site

Abstract

Restoring sites disturbed by industrial activity to a forested condition can ensure the continued provision of economic and ecosystem services from these areas. Impounded mine tailings are particularly challenging sites, and positive benefits of establishing trees must be balanced against risks associated with metal contamination, ongoing tailings stability, and the possibility of acid mine drainage. We used a hybrid biometric modelling approach based on dendrochronological reconstruction to retrospectively (1980–2015) quantify productivity and carbon dynamics of pine plantations growing on impounded mine tailings at the Vale waste management facility near Sudbury, Canada. Historical reclamation practices had remediated conditions sufficiently to allow conifer plantation establishment in the late 1970s. The revegetated sites were highly productive, when compared to reference conditions based on site index, wood volume growth, and ecosystem production, congruent with other studies showing that forests on revegetated post mining sites can be highly productive. However, metal concentrations in the forest floor were high, and further research is warranted to evaluate ecosystem impacts. Due to the requirement for energy-intensive inputs, we estimated that it took 12 years or more to recover the emissions associated with the revegetation process through C accumulated in biomass and soil at the revegetated sites.

The Impact of Nickel Mining on Soil Properties and Growth of Two Fast-Growing Tropical Trees Species

“…To reduce damage caused by nickel mining, land rehabilitation activities are required. Rehabilitation land after mining activity to a previous forested land condition can guarantee the services of these areas for economic and ecosystem purposes [3]. Land should become a productive forested area for the sustainability of social authorization [4]; however, this is not easy.…”

Natural Seed Limitation and Effectiveness of Forest Plantations to Restore Semiarid Abandoned Metal Mining Areas in SE Spain

“…Ideal target species for plantation in mine tailings must not only be metal-tolerant but also expose a low aboveground metal(oid) bioaccumulation that minimizes metal transfer to the food chain [1,11,29]. In our plantation, the bioaccumulation was quite variable among species though most of them had contents above the normal levels for most metal(oid)s excepting Cu [44][45][46][47].…”

“…Mining is one of the most environmentally damaging activities, with long-term negative effects on ecosystems due to soil denudation and pollution, as well as exhaustion of soil fertility and productivity [1]. In Europe, mining industry is responsible for 60% of contaminated lands, and only in 5% of all cases restoration or rehabilitation programs have been carried out [2].…”

“…Forest restoration programs in reclaimed metal mine soils have been described in North America and Central-Europe [1,[6][7][8][9]. These works from humid and cold climates show that tree plantations on mine tailings can achieve growths similar to adjacent mineunaffected areas in the mid-to long-term, with positive effects on different goods and services, including erosion control, carbon sequestration in soils and biomass or wood production.…”

“…These works from humid and cold climates show that tree plantations on mine tailings can achieve growths similar to adjacent mineunaffected areas in the mid-to long-term, with positive effects on different goods and services, including erosion control, carbon sequestration in soils and biomass or wood production. Nevertheless, metal concentration in the soil profiles of revegetated tailings suggests potential metal transfer to the food chain that could have toxic effects on different trophic levels [1]. In arid and semiarid areas, available examples of rehabilitation programs that included revegetation actions in mine soils are based mainly on the seeding or planting of species with short life forms such as herbs, grasses and shrubs [10][11][12][13].…”