Abstrakt
Surface mining causes disturbances of large areas. Material excavated from above the mined deposit is transferred elsewhere, and new ecosystems are reconstructed here either with the help of technical reclamation or by natural processes.
We present the main findings of research carried out in these postmining sites with a focus on carbon sequestration in soil. We briefly discuss the methodological issues of C sequestration studies in these soils.
Further, we focus on the potential and dynamics as well as the main driving factors of C sequestration. The rates of soil carbon accumulation in post mining soils are higher than the typical rates for revegetated agricultural soils (~0.3tha-1yr-1); however, the rate of C sequestration decreases with increasing site age (2.5tha-1yr-1 after 10 years and 0.9tha-1yr-1 after 40 years).
Substrate and type of vegetation belong to major drivers of soil development and C sequestration. Substrate toxicity may be a serious problem in the reclamation of postmining sites.
However in nontoxic substrates, namely on substrates with adequate clay content, the vegetation development may be quite fast. Topsoil application may substantially improve soil conditions but may be also associated with compaction, which may slow down tree growth.
On average, soil C storage is significantly lower in coniferous forests than in grasslands or in deciduous forests. The rate of C sequestration responds positively to site temperature in grassland and negatively in conifers.
The accumulation of organic matter resulted in changes in a substrate pH increase of nutrient availability and water-holding capacity.