Spatial Variability Of Soil Properties For Reclaimed Minesoils In Waste Dump Of Loess Plateau

Mining activities can cause drastic perturbation to terrestrial ecosystems, leadingto soil degradation. But the quality of reclaimed minesoils is poor and it is difficult tobe improved rapidly. This miesoils limits the growth of vegetation on dump.Therefore, it is important to understand spatial variability of reclaimed minesoilcharacteristics correctly and comprehensive and construct a soil structure suit forvegetation growth.geostatistical methods were used for analysis spatial variability of reclaimedminesoils properties in ATB opencast coal mine, rational sampling number andmonitoring points emplacement method were discussed. This can provide basis forsoil improvement and soil quality monitoring in study area. The result is as follows:(1) All soil properties determined in study site showed moderate coefficients ofvariation. Content of TN, SOM, AN, AP, AK was lower than standard value, soildensity, pH, soil moisture, soil particle composition, soil salt content meetingrequirements.(2) Strong spatial dependency were obtained for TN content at0-20cm depth,SOM content at20-40cm depth and60-80cm depth, soil salt content at40-60cm depth.Weakly spatially dependent were obtained for TN, SOM and pH at40-60cm depth,AN at0-20cm and20-40cm depth, AK at0-20cm and40-60cm depth, soil salt contentat0-20cm depth. Ranges changes a lot between soil properties.(3) All soil properties showed strongly variability in study area. The variabilitydecreased as the soil depth increase except SOM, AN and AK contents.(4) The rational sampling number was40, and the layout of the monitoringpoints was obtained based on rational sampling number.(5) Soil reconstruction and soil improvement countermeasures and suggestionswere advices for other waste dump. Dumpling order and topsoil stripping should bepay attention in waste dump and biological and physical methods can be used toimprove soil quality in study site.