Abstract
An understanding of the spatial variation and influence factors of soil nutrients in mining areas can provide a reference for land reclamation and ecological restoration. Daliuta was used as the study area. The spatial variability of soil nutrients was analyzed using traditional statistics and geostatistics. The effects of topography, mining history, and soil erosion were discussed. The results indicate that the soil pH of the Daliuta mining area is slightly acidic to slightly alkaline, and the soil organic matter, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium belonged to the five levels (very low), six (extremely low), five (extremely low), and four (moderately low), respectively. The soil water and salt content indicated that the soil environment in the mining area is arid and has normal levels of salinity. The organic matter, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and soil salt varied moderately, and the pH did not change much, while the soil water varied strongly. The organic matter, pH, and soil salinity are moderately spatially autocorrelated, and the available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and soil water are weakly spatially autocorrelated. Each nutrient index had a certain spatial trend effect. The slope, aspect, elevation, and topographic wetness index are the primary topographic factors that control the spatial distribution of soil nutrients. The organic matter, pH, and soil salinity are moderately spatially autocorrelated, and the available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and soil water are weakly spatially autocorrelated. Each nutrient index had a certain spatial trend effect. The slope, aspect, elevation, and topographic wetness index are the primary topographic factors that control the spatial distribution of soil nutrients. Soil erosion and mining history are also important factors that lead to the spatial variation of soil nutrients.
Highlights
Land quality degradation is becoming a major environmental issue that faces the world owing to the activities of humans and climate fluctuations
As shown by the second national soil survey tentative specifications in Chinese [47], the mean of soil organic matter (SOM), available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and AK were 0.89%, 12.97 mg/kg, 2.34 mg/kg, and 64.53 mg/kg, which belong to grade five, grade six, and grade six, and level four, respectively
The average values of soil moisture and soil salinity were 0.74% and 0.55 g/kg, respectively, which was owing to the environment of drought and normal salinity
Summary
Land quality degradation is becoming a major environmental issue that faces the world owing to the activities of humans and climate fluctuations. Coal is an important source of energy in China and accounts for approximately 70% of. Sustainability 2022, 14, 2793 mining is conducted underground [1], which leads to a large area of land subsidence in the mining areas (MA), causing serious damage to the ecological environment. Excavation, occupation, and collapse, among others, significantly change the performance, composition, and structure of the ecological environmental elements and seriously restrict the integrity of the ecosystem, inducing the degradation of mining land quality. The current energy focus of China has been transferred to the western provinces, which are located in arid and semiarid regions in which the ecological environment is fragile. Large-scale and intensive coal mining in these areas may cause more serious land degradation than that in the central and eastern regions
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