Analysis on the Difference of Reconstructed Soil Moisture Content in a Grassland Open-Pit Mining Area of China

Abstract

To reveal the variability of different reconstructed soil ratios and different vegetation growth grades on the water holding capacity of recon-structed soil, the most suitable ratio of reconstructed soil materials was explored. Taking the inner dump of Shengli mining area in Inner Mongolia of China as the research area, the reconstructed soil of reclaimed land was investigated and sampled. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the difference of the moisture content of the reconstructed soil, and the reasons for the difference were discussed. The results showed that: (1) Among the different soil reconstructions, soil moisture content was higher when soil reconstructions were rock and soil stripping material: coal gangue: fly ash = 3:4:3. The soil moisture content of un-reclaimed land was mostly at a high level when the soil reconstruction method was rock and soil stripping material; and the soil moisture content was not at the highest level when the vegetation growth grade was higher. This indicates that it was not the case that the better the vegetation growth condition was, the higher the soil moisture content was. (2) In the case where the soil reconstruction method was rock and soil stripping material: coal gangue = 2:3, the soil moisture content of the reclaimed land decreased with the reduction of tillage frequency when the vegetation growth condition was optimal (vegetation growth grade was 4). (3) In the case where the soil reconstruction method was rock and soil stripping material: coal gangue: fly ash = 3:4:3, when the vegetation growth condition was better (vegetation growth grade was 3 and 4), the soil moisture content of the re-claimed land was highest when it was tilled once every 15 days. It was also found in combination with other soil reconstruction methods that it was not always the case that the higher the frequency of tillage, the higher the soil moisture content. The study of coal gangue, fly ash and rocky soil stripping as topsoil substitute materials with their different ratios on reconstructed soil provides support for the reclamation work in topsoil scarce mines and provides technical reference for the ecological restoration project of grassland open-pit mines in the same climate zone.