Abstract
Mine soils at the depleted copper mine in Touro (Northwest Spain) are physicochemically degraded and polluted by chromium and copper. To increase the quality of these soils, some areas at this mine have been vegetated with eucalyptus or pines, amended with sludges, or received both treatments.
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of planting trees (Pinus pinaster or Eucalyptus globulus) and amending with wastes (sewage sludges and paper mill residues) on the properties of mine soils and under field conditions. The studied soils were located in a settling pond and a mine tailing within a former copper mine. The soil samples were analysed for several physicochemical characteristics and a soil quality index was determined.
The untreated sites had a very low quality, and the treatment that most improved them was amending with wastes (sewage sludges and paper mill residues). We recommend the periodic addition of sewage sludges and paper mill residues to degraded sites as they increase the quality of soils but the effect decreases over time.
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Asensio, V., Rodríguez-Vila, A., Covelo, E.F. (2015). Sludge Amendment and Tree Vegetation Could Improve the Quality of Mine Soils. In: Sherameti, I., Varma, A. (eds) Heavy Metal Contamination of Soils. Soil Biology, vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14526-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14526-6_17
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