Effects of plant types on physico-chemical properties of reclaimed mining soil in Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in Jungar Banner, Inner Mongolia, China to study the effects of plant types on the physical structure and chemical properties of open-cast mining soils reclaimed for 15 years, and to analyze the triggering factors of the soil formation. Results indicate that plant types affect soil-forming process especially in the upper layer (0-20 cm), and the spatial structure of reclaimed plant is the main reason for variability of the soil-forming process. In the upper soil layer at the site reclaimed with mixed plants, the concentrations of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil organic carbon (SOC) are the highest, and they were significantly higher at the sites reclaimed with Leymus chinensis, Caragana sinica, which is mainly due to a large amount of litter fall and root exudation in herbages and shrubs. However, the concentrations of SOM and SOC in the soils at the reclaimed sites are quite low comparing with those in local primary soil, which indicates the importance of using organic amendments during the ecological restoration in the study area.

Use of Reclaimed Mine Soil Index (RMSI) for screening of tree species for reclamation of coal mine degraded land

“…Different tree species have varying degree of ameliorative affect on mine soils (Mukhopadhyay and Maiti, 2011;Juwarkar et al, 2010;Mendes Filho et al, 2010;Sinha et al, 2009;Dutta and Agrawal, 2003). Yao et al (2010) studied the improvement in physicochemical properties of a 15-year old reclaimed coal mine soils (Inner Mongolia, China) and concluded that different tree species have varying degree of influence on soil forming process. Dutta and Agrawal (2001) also reported significant difference in improvement of physico-chemical properties by five exotic tree species planted in the mine soils (Jayant opencast project, Madhya Pradesh, India).…”

Erosion‐reducing effects of revegetation and fish‐scale pits on steep spoil heaps under concentrated runoff on the Chinese Loess Plateau

“…Since the 1980s on the Chinese Loess Plateau, production and construction activities, such as coal mining, mineral mining, and expressway construction, have altered landforms, removed vegetation, and excavated a large amount of surface material, which is deposited in heaps (Fu, Lin, Ma, & Zhu, 2010; Guo et al, 2020; Zhang, Gao, Yang, Li, & Tian, 2015). Due to their loose structure, these abandoned spoil heaps have caused considerable soil erosion (Wang et al, 2012), which has resulted in land degradation and severely damaged the ecology and environment (Luo, Xie, & Lv, 2019; Zhang, Gao, et al, 2015).…”

“…During the rainy season, FSPs are clearly associated with improved plant survival (Tianjiao et al, 2018). In addition, FSPs can improve soil organic matter and enhance land productivity (Fu, Lin, et al, 2010). Han et al (2018) also found that compared with bare land, land with FSPs reduce runoff and sediment.…”

Quantitative correlations between soil and plants in reclaimed mining dumps using a coupling coordination degree model

“…Revegetation, a common method adopted by many countries such as USA, China and India, has been proved to be a proper reclamation way to accelerate the soil-forming processes, build up soil organic matter, develop nutrient cycling and restore soil productivity [ 8 , 9 ]. According to Fu [ 10 ], physico-chemical properties of mine soil in Inner Mongolia of China have improved a lot after 15-year reclamation. However, not all trees are of the same efficiency.…”