Abstract
Reclaimed mined lands provide an excellent opportunity to sequester carbon and combat global warming. Carbon sequestration on reclaimed sites depend on age of reclamation, composition of species, geomining conditions (soil characteristics) and prevailing climate. The aims of the present study were to calculate carbon (C)—stock of biomass of 4 years old plantation (dominated by Albizia lebbeck, Dalbergia sissoo and Bambusa arundinacea), understorey vegetation and litter, soil organic carbon in reclaimed minesoil (RMS) and compare with reference forest site. Allometric equation was used for the estimation of biomass C stock and found 13.0 Mg C ha−1 (A lebbeck 7.8 Mg C ha−1, D sissoo 3.5 Mg C ha−1 and B. arundincea 1.2 Mg C ha−1), while stock of understorey vegetation was 0.98 Mg C ha−1. In RMS, C stock was 16.3 Mg C ha−1, out of which inorganic C contributed 1.7 g kg−1 (8 % of total soil C), Coal C 8.7 g kg−1 (43 % of total soil C) and biogenic C 9.8 g kg−1 (49 % of total soil C). Total C stock in reclaimed site was calculated as 30.3 Mg C ha−1 (equivalent to 111 Mg CO2 ha−1). The study concluded that (i) coal C is responsible for overestimation of C stock in RMS (ii) Maximun C stock stored in aboveground biomass component and (iii) reclaimed mined lands will take approximately 17 years to reach the level of C stock of reference forest site in dry tropical climate.
Highlights
Carbon (C) sequestration is defined as ‘‘the process of increasing the C content of a C pool other than the atmosphere’’ (IPCC 2000)
The study concluded that (i) coal C is responsible for overestimation of C stock in reclaimed mine soil (RMS) (ii) Maximun C stock stored in aboveground biomass component and (iii) reclaimed mined lands will take approximately 17 years to reach the level of C stock of reference forest site in dry tropical climate
C stock in reclaimed mine soil is dependent on the nature and type of soil and vegetation; age and geoclimatic conditions
Summary
Carbon (C) sequestration is defined as ‘‘the process of increasing the C content of a C pool other than the atmosphere’’ (IPCC 2000). During the process of surface coal mining, vegetation cover is completely stripped, and soils and overburden (OB) rocks are removed to reach the coal-deposit, which generates huge volume of heterogeneous mass, stored as OB dumps (external dumps) or used as backfill materials to fill open cast voids (internal dumping). These OB dumps, initially devoid of soil organic carbon (SOC) and generally reclaimed into a forest land through forestry reclamation approach (FRA) (Zipper et al 2011; Skousen and Zipper 2014). After dressing the Estimation of carbon sequestration in reclaimed coalmine degraded land dominated
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