Role of revegetation in restoring fertility of degraded mined soils in Ghana: A review

Abstract

The topsoil gets seriously damaged during mineral extraction. The consequences of physical disturbance to the topsoil during stripping, stockpiling and reinstatement results in soil degradation through loss of soil structure, accelerated soil erosion, excessive leaching, compaction, reduced soil pH, accumulation of heavy metals in soils, depletion of organic matter, decreased plant available nutrients, reduced cation exchange capacity, decreased microbial activity and consequent reduction in soil fertility. Management of topsoil is important for reclamation plan to reduce nutrient losses and eventually restore the fertility. Revegetation constitutes the most widely accepted and useful way to improve the fertility of degraded mined lands. A review was conducted to assess the contribution of revegetation to improvement of soil fertility of mined lands. The results obtained in this study indicate that revegetation through forest vegetation is one of the efficient means of restoring soil fertility through improvement in soil organic matter content, available nutrients, cation exchange capacity, increased biological activities as well as improvement in physical conditions of the soil. However, it will require longer periods to restore the fertility as closely as possible to the original level. The efforts to rehabilitate mined lands have focused on N-fixing species of legumes, grasses, herbs and trees. Some of the promising tree species that can be used for revegetation are Acacia, Leucaena and other legume trees that are acid-tolerant and can add substantial amount of organic matter to the soil. Long term revegetation using legume species of high metal accumulation and are acid tolerant should therefore be considered in mining areas.

The Influence of Bt Maize Cultivation on Communities of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Revealed by MiSeq Sequencing

“…However, Glomus was the dominant genus in roots and rhizosphere soils, in accordance with results of other articles (Oehl et al, 2009; Zarei et al, 2010; Verbruggen et al, 2012a; Liu et al, 2017). The dominance of Glomus has been widely found in various ecosystems, such as coastal saline-alkaline land soils (Cui et al, 2016), heavy textured agricultural soils (Mathimaran et al, 2005), degraded mined soils (Albert, 2015), and agricultural soils (Dai et al, 2014). This can be explained by the characteristics of Glomus , which can easily survive and reproduce via mycelium, spores or fragments of colonized plants.…”

Soil Heavy Metal(loid) Pollution and Phytoremediation Potential of Native Plants on a Former Gold Mine in Ghana

“…The source of the increased SOM on the forested site was probably due to litter deposition over several years, similar as reported by Mkumbo et al (2012) for gold-mine tailings in Tanzania. Thus, forest ecosystems seem to be capable of supporting rehabilitation of SOM-deprived soils (Sheoran et al, 2010;Mensah, 2015). Interestingly, after 13 years of reforestation, the forest site S3 had a higher SOM content than the natural forest site S6.…”

“…Among several rehabilitation techniques, the concept of reclamation forestry has demonstrated the greatest overall potential on both fertility improvement and heavy metal(loid) hazard prevention (Pulford & Watson, 2003;Mertens et al, 2007;Sheoran et al, 2010;Mensah, 2015). Rehabilitation of post-mined land with trees reduces the leaching of hazardous heavy metal(loid)s into the surrounding environment and their attendant effects on the environment and human health.…”

Studi Kelayakan Sumber Daya Air Baku Pulau Bintan – Tinjauan Aspek Kuantitas dan Kualitas

“…Nilai pH yang rendah ada kaitannya dengan lokasi studi sebagai kawasan bekas tambang bauksit. Di kawasan bekas tambang akan terjadi penurunan pH tanah (Erfandi, 2017;Mensah, 2015). Tanah dengan pH rendah merupakan media kontak antara air hujan yang jatuh ke tanah dan air tanah (sumur).…”