The formation of the soil section by morphological characteristics in technosol of Semenivsko-Holovkivske lignite open-cut

Abstract

Analysis of morphological descriptions of technosol sections indicates the following features of soil formation in technosol under common pine plantations. The particle-size composition in all variants depends above all on the composition of rocks, which form technosol. There is a color change in the upper layer of lithosol section, where the initial stage of humus formation and humus accumulation processes take place. The humus layer, which indicates the speed of these processes, is present only in the upper and lower third of the slope in 20-year-old common pine plantations and ranges from 7 cm in the upper to 10 cm in the lower third of the slope, which may be the result of flat erosion on the slope. There is no humus horizon in valley bottom, as spring water stagnation occurs there, which caused the death of most of the plantings, which were the main source of organic matter entering the soil. The inhibition in the processes of humus formation under the plantations that develop on the upland occurs due to the low content of the dusty fraction. The formation of the soil structure was not observed in technosols formed from rocks with light particle-size composition (sandy loam and sand); on loamy variants, it passes intensively in the upper 10–15 cm layer, which contains most plant roots, worms and insects. The presence of a plate structure has a industry-related origin and is formed when heavy machinery passes through rocks with a high moisture content. An important indicator of the initial processes of soil formation is the decompression of technosols and the speed of this process. This process is the most quick under 23-year-old plantations on a upland, cultivated on rocks with light particle-size composition (the loose horizon is 80 cm), on a slope in a 20-year-old plantation on heavier rocks, this process is much slower (the loose horizon is about 7–10 cm). Brown coal, inclusions of carbonaceous clays, rippled and kaolin clays can be found among the inclusions. The number and composition of the inclusions depends on the nature of the rocks, which form tehnosol. The new growths of biological origin should be mentioned, among which there are biological capillaries, represented by root passages with a diameter of 4–7 mm, filled with soil material enriched with organic substances and ones with the diameter of 2–3 mm to 1 cm, filled with coprolites and soil mass. Thus, changes in technosols identified by morphological features depend on open-pit rocks which form the edaphotope, their composition and properties, on the quality of the technical stage of reclamation and on the terrain of the formed territory.