Effect of Controlled Overburden Placement on Mine Soil Properties and the Growth of Loblolly Pine

摘要

Natural topsoil in Southwest Virginia is often thin, rocky, acidic and infertile. As a result, rock spoil topsoil substitutes are commonly used. In order to evaluate the first year effects of rock type and surface treatments of 'topsoil', sawdust and sewage sludge on revegetation, a controlled overburden placement experiment was designed. The effects of rock type, surface treatments, and mycorrhizal inoculation (Pisolithus tinctorius) on the survival and growth of bare-root loblolly, Virginia and white pine seedlings was evaluated in the experimental plots, and in a separate greenhouse study. In the greenhouse experiment, seedling germination was higher on siltstone spoil, but growth and fertilizer response was superior on sandstone spoil, but growth and fertilizer response was superior on sandstone spoil. White pine was the only species to show growth response to PT inoculation in the greenhouse. It is felt that careful overburden selection and placement, coupled with the proper surface treatments, can create a hard rock derived mine soil which is equal to a mixture of A, E, B, C and CR soil horizons in first year productivity.