Abstract
Mining activities for mineral resources over the years have resulted in major soil damage. Due the removal process of desired mineral materials, soil textures have been destroyed, various nutrient cycles have been disturbed, and microbial communities have been altered, affecting vegetation and leading to the destruction of wide areas of land in many countries. Therefore, soil restoration of abandoned mining lands became a very important part of sustainable development strategies and also prescribed by law in several countries. The main aims of this study were to develop an ecological land restoration strategy to the degraded lands due former kaolin, quartz sand, and iron mining located in Aghireșu and Căpușu Mare in Cluj County, in the Northwestern part of Transylvania from Romania and monitor soil quality changes over 40 years. To assess the effectiveness of soil reclamation of mine lands, 30 soil profiles were examined and 450 soil samples were collected from three depths (0–20 cm, 20–50 cm, and 50–80 cm) and subjected to physical and chemical analyses, and compared for their sustainable and beneficial use. All the proposed plant covers (natural grassland, pasture cover, black locust, Norway spruce, and scots pine) significantly improved the overall soil quality with the increasing years of reclamation following various patterns. Pasture cover most significantly enhanced the soil’s microbial activity, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content followed by natural grassland. The results of this study show that considerable changes in soil quality was reached by revegetation of these abandoned mine lands restoring their ecological integrity and self-sustainability.
Highlights
Surface mining for coal and other valuable geological materials have been causing severe ecological disturbances worldwide since pre-historic times
The results revealed that restoration of the vegetation cover on tailing dumps contribute to soil quality improvement through stabilization, pollution control, aesthetic improvement, and soil fertility
Based on the mean of the land evaluation marks, five different vegetation covers were proposed for revegetation of the degraded lands as follow: natural grassland consisted mostly of Agropyron repens, Equisetum arvense, Arenaria serpyllifolia, Tussilago farfara, Lolium perenne, Trifolium medium, Onobrychis viciifolia, and Melilotus officinalis, pasture vegetation dominated by Festuca rubra and Agrostis tenuis; Festuca pratensis, Cynosurus cristatus, Poa pratensis, Dactylis glomerata, Trifolium pratense, Trifolium montanum and Lotus corniculatus, Robinia pseudacacia, Picea abies, and Pinus sylvestris
Summary
Surface mining for coal and other valuable geological materials have been causing severe ecological disturbances worldwide since pre-historic times. The rate of consumption of mineral resources is still increasing due to the acceleration of urbanization, population growth, and the advancement in technology and science which has been exceptionally fast in the 20th and 21st century. Surface mining activities substantially degrade lands disrupting both the aesthetics of the landscape and soil horizons and structure, its microflora and nutrient cycles which are crucial for maintaining a healthy and productive ecosystem [8]. 18,000 hectares are subjected to mining activities in Romania destroying natural habitats and ecosystems becoming a limiting factor for agricultural lands [7]. Ecological restoration and abandoned mine land reclamation have already become a very important part of sustainable developmental strategies in many countries. Mine land reclamation strategies must concern soil structure, fertility, microflora, and nutrient cycling in order to recover the land as much as possible and to act as a self-sustaining ecosystem
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