Forest Soil Productivity of Mined Land in the Midwestern and Eastern Coalfield Regions

Rodrigue, Jason A.; Burger, James A.

doi:10.2136/sssaj2004.0833

Cited by 47 publications

(88 citation statements)

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“…Numerous studies have shown that nitrogen is the main factor limiting vegetation reconstruction in degraded mining areas; the large amounts of soil nutrients absorbed and the low amounts of organic residues returned to the soil result in low nitrogen contents in reclaimed forest soils [43][44][45]. In reclaimed soils used for agriculture, annual ploughing may lead to the mineralization of organic carbon and thereby slow down the accumulation of SOC [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Dynamics of Reclaimed Coal Mine Soil under Agricultural Use: A Chronosequence Study in the Dongtan Mining Area, Shandong Province, China

Yu-le

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an essential role in the early stages of pedogenisis and ecological restoration in reclaimed mine soils. Dynamic changes in the SOC content are essential for assessing the quality of reclaimed mine soils and the effect of ecological restoration. To objectively assess the carbon dynamics of reclaimed soils, we selected the surface (0-20 cm) soil of farmland under agricultural use (soybean-wheat rotation) from a reclamation chronosequence (R4: 4 years of reclamation, R7: 7 years of reclamation, R10: 10 years of reclamation and R13: 13 years of reclamation) in the Dongtan Mining Area, Shandong Province, China. The adjacent normal, unaffected farmland was used as a control (CK). The results showed that the SOC content gradually increased with the reclamation age until it reached 7.98 g·kg −1 for R13, which accounted for 76% of that of the CK. However, the total carbon contents of the reclaimed soils did not significantly differ from and even appeared higher than that of the CK. This is mainly because the inorganic carbon contents of the reclaimed soils ranged from 2.98 to 12.61 g·kg −1 , all of which were significantly higher than the 0.87 g·kg −1 obtained for the CK. The microbial biomass carbon (MBC) content and the microbial quotient significantly increased with the reclamation age of the soil, and both parameters were markedly higher for R13 than for the CK. The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content and its ratio to the SOC were significantly higher for R4-R13 than for the CK and DOC/SOC gradually decreased with the reclamation age. Both the reclamation age and the temperature had positive effects on the soil basal respiration (SBR). The SBR rate constantly increased with the reclamation age and was markedly higher at 25 • C than at 15 • C. The temperature sensitivity (Q 10 ) of the SBR showed a clearly decreasing trend for the reclamation chronosequence, but its value remained higher for R13 than for the CK (2.37). The metabolic quotient constantly decreased with the reclamation age, which suggests that the survival pressure imposed on soil microbes by the soil environment gradually decreased. These results indicate that it takes a long time for organic carbon to accumulate in reclaimed mine soil and that rational agricultural use contributes to sustained improvement of the quality of reclaimed soil.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Dynamics of Reclaimed Coal Mine Soil under Agricultural Use: A Chronosequence Study in the Dongtan Mining Area, Shandong Province, China

Yu-le

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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“…The higher percentage of fines could increase the plant-available water in the soil which would positively influence the site's productivity (Rodrigue and Burger, 2004). Skousen et al (2009) found that black walnut seeds had a significantly greater establishment and survival on a ripped surface mine in West Virginia vs. a non-ripped treatment on the same site.…”

Section: Treesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Growth on Ripped, Compacted, and Slightly Compacted Gray Sandstone Topsoil Substitute on a Surface Coal Mine in West Virginia

Wilson-Kokes¹,

Skousen²

2014

JASMR

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Steep topography and thin native soils characterize the coal mining regions of southern West Virginia. State and federal regulations require replacement of native topsoil during reclamation for re-establishment of a vegetative cover. Due to hazards and expense associated with collecting this thin layer of soil before mining, regulators have allowed mine operators to use substitute topsoil materials, including weathered (brown) and unweathered (gray) geologic materials for growth media. For pasture and hayland post-mining land uses, substitute materials provide suitable physical and chemical properties for establishment and growth of forages with fertilization and liming. When reforestation is the post-mining land use, regulations in West Virginia require a 1.2 m layer of native topsoil and brown weathered sandstone, but unweathered materials may be used if native topsoil quantities are insufficient. This study examined tree growth on areas where brown and gray sandstone materials were applied to the surface as growth media at the Samples Mine in West Virginia. In a study already published at this site, we found significant differences in tree growth on brown and gray sandstone plots. For this study, we selected two additional gray sandstone plots for comparison to the original brown and gray plots. The two original sites were brown sandstone compacted and gray sandstone compacted, and we added nearby plots of gray sandstone slightly compacted and gray sandstone compacted and then ripped. Average pH ranged from 7.3 to 7.9 on the gray plots compared to 5.4 on the brown plot. Tree growth on brown sandstone was more than triple that of tree growth on all of the gray sandstone plots. Mean tree volume index on the brown compacted plot was 3108 cm 3 while mean tree volume index was significantly lower on the gray compacted plot (909 cm³), the gray slightly compacted plot (407 cm 3 ), and the gray ripped plot (885 cm³). Eight years after reclamation, the gray sandstone plots, whether slightly compacted, compacted, or ripped, showed poor tree growth compared to brown sandstone. Gray sandstone has proven to be an inferior topsoil substitute for reforestation on this site.

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“…We are somewhat skeptical of the utility of the method for determining rooting depth and its utility for characterizing forest site quality. Therefore, other approaches will be applied to interpret these data for forest site quality (Andrews et al 1998, Rodrigue and Burger 2004, Showalter et al 2006, Torbert et al 1998. …”

Section: Analysis and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services

Burger¹,

Galbraith²,

Fox³

et al. 2006

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The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. In this quarterly report we present data that show the spatial distribution of carbon in mine soils. Soil carbon data from deep soil pits from grassland minelands located in Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia were analyzed to determine the vertical distribution and variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) down to a 2-m depth. Regression analyses were used to describe and model the distribution by soil depth of C(wt%), BD fines (g cm -3 ), and fines(vol%) in mine soils. The volume of excavated mine soil samples was transformed in terms of costs of digging and sampling, including sample collection and preparation, and C(wt%) analysis, in order to determine the maximum costeffective depth (MCD) for carbon inventorying on the mined sites analyzed. Based on the horizontal variation of SOC(g m -2 ), we determined the sampling intensity required to achieve a desired accuracy of the amount of sequestered SOC(g m -2 ) at certain probability levels. The MCD and sampling intensity measurements were used to determine the minimum detectable difference (MDD) of SOC(g m -2 ) between two consecutive carbon inventories. We also proposed a method to determine the minimum number of years before a future C inventory event is carried out so that the measured SOC(g m -2 ) differences were greater than MDD. We used geostatistical analyses procedures to determine spatial dependence predictability of surface SOC(g m -2 ) data on the minelands analyzed. Kriging techniques were used to create surface SOC(g m -2 ) maps for the sites in Ohio and West Virginia. The average C sequestration rate in the surface soil layer for the Ohio (age 9) sites was estimated at 124 g C m -2 yr -1 , and it was estimated at 107 g C m -2 yr -1 for the West Virginia sites (age 4). Because of the young age of the Virginia sites, 0.2 and 1 year old, we came to a decision that C sequestration rates would be inappropriate at this stage of their development, as these soils are expected to change with time.

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Forest Soil Productivity of Mined Land in the Midwestern and Eastern Coalfield Regions

Cited by 47 publications

References 0 publications

Carbon Dynamics of Reclaimed Coal Mine Soil under Agricultural Use: A Chronosequence Study in the Dongtan Mining Area, Shandong Province, China

Carbon Dynamics of Reclaimed Coal Mine Soil under Agricultural Use: A Chronosequence Study in the Dongtan Mining Area, Shandong Province, China

Tree Growth on Ripped, Compacted, and Slightly Compacted Gray Sandstone Topsoil Substitute on a Surface Coal Mine in West Virginia

Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services

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