Land restoration after strip mining for coal
Recent legislation requires that lands surface mined for coal be returned to approximate original topography and vegetative cover be restored. Spoils provide poor rooting habitat because of extreme stoniness or excessive slope steepness which provide few niches for seeds to become lodged and also sp...
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Pacific Northwest Laboratory
1977
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ftunivnotexas:info:ark/67531/metadc1189905 2023-05-15T15:11:39+02:00 Land restoration after strip mining for coal Rickard, W. H. 1977-01-01 14 pages Text https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1189905/ English eng Pacific Northwest Laboratory rep-no: BNWL-SA-6525 rep-no: CONF-7709149-1 grantno: EY-76-C-06-1830 osti: 6658633 https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1189905/ ark: ark:/67531/metadc1189905 Symposium on land restoration after strip mining for coal, Juneau, AK, USA, 21 Sep 1977 North America 010900* -- Coal Lignite & Peat-- Environmental Aspects Usa Legislation Revegetation 01 Coal And Peat Arid Lands 510500 -- Environment Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989) Land Reclamation Surface Mining Mining Climates 54 Environmental Sciences 012000 -- Coal & Peat-- Mining Laws Coal Mining Article 1977 ftunivnotexas 2019-07-06T22:08:37Z Recent legislation requires that lands surface mined for coal be returned to approximate original topography and vegetative cover be restored. Spoils provide poor rooting habitat because of extreme stoniness or excessive slope steepness which provide few niches for seeds to become lodged and also spoil may provide poor mineral nutrition, poor water retention and sometimes the spoil may even have chemical properties detrimental to plant growth (acidity, alkalinity or even unusually large amounts of toxic mineral elements i.e., copper, sodium). To provide a substrate better suited for plant growth, recommendations for restoration call for deep burial of unfavorable substrate components i.e., rocks and materials of unusual chemistry and the dressing of reshaped spoil with topsoil i.e., material with the most favorable properties for plant growth. Even though all the substrate requirements for healthy plant growth may be met, such as adding a form of available nitrogen as fertilizer, plants will not grow if weather conditions are extreme. For example, in very dry (desert) climates precipitation may be too scanty or too erratic to permit the successful establishment of many kinds of plants. Even under the most favorable conditions plant productivity averaged over a period of years is low. Also in very cold climates the growing season may be limited to only a few weeks in summer e.g., arctic and alpine tundra regions. This shortens the time available for photosynthesis and keeps plant productivity low. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra University of North Texas: UNT Digital Library Arctic |
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University of North Texas: UNT Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnotexas |
language |
English |
topic |
North America 010900* -- Coal Lignite & Peat-- Environmental Aspects Usa Legislation Revegetation 01 Coal And Peat Arid Lands 510500 -- Environment Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989) Land Reclamation Surface Mining Mining Climates 54 Environmental Sciences 012000 -- Coal & Peat-- Mining Laws Coal Mining |
spellingShingle |
North America 010900* -- Coal Lignite & Peat-- Environmental Aspects Usa Legislation Revegetation 01 Coal And Peat Arid Lands 510500 -- Environment Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989) Land Reclamation Surface Mining Mining Climates 54 Environmental Sciences 012000 -- Coal & Peat-- Mining Laws Coal Mining Rickard, W. H. Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
topic_facet |
North America 010900* -- Coal Lignite & Peat-- Environmental Aspects Usa Legislation Revegetation 01 Coal And Peat Arid Lands 510500 -- Environment Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989) Land Reclamation Surface Mining Mining Climates 54 Environmental Sciences 012000 -- Coal & Peat-- Mining Laws Coal Mining |
description |
Recent legislation requires that lands surface mined for coal be returned to approximate original topography and vegetative cover be restored. Spoils provide poor rooting habitat because of extreme stoniness or excessive slope steepness which provide few niches for seeds to become lodged and also spoil may provide poor mineral nutrition, poor water retention and sometimes the spoil may even have chemical properties detrimental to plant growth (acidity, alkalinity or even unusually large amounts of toxic mineral elements i.e., copper, sodium). To provide a substrate better suited for plant growth, recommendations for restoration call for deep burial of unfavorable substrate components i.e., rocks and materials of unusual chemistry and the dressing of reshaped spoil with topsoil i.e., material with the most favorable properties for plant growth. Even though all the substrate requirements for healthy plant growth may be met, such as adding a form of available nitrogen as fertilizer, plants will not grow if weather conditions are extreme. For example, in very dry (desert) climates precipitation may be too scanty or too erratic to permit the successful establishment of many kinds of plants. Even under the most favorable conditions plant productivity averaged over a period of years is low. Also in very cold climates the growing season may be limited to only a few weeks in summer e.g., arctic and alpine tundra regions. This shortens the time available for photosynthesis and keeps plant productivity low. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rickard, W. H. |
author_facet |
Rickard, W. H. |
author_sort |
Rickard, W. H. |
title |
Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
title_short |
Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
title_full |
Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
title_fullStr |
Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Land restoration after strip mining for coal |
title_sort |
land restoration after strip mining for coal |
publisher |
Pacific Northwest Laboratory |
publishDate |
1977 |
url |
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1189905/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
Symposium on land restoration after strip mining for coal, Juneau, AK, USA, 21 Sep 1977 |
op_relation |
rep-no: BNWL-SA-6525 rep-no: CONF-7709149-1 grantno: EY-76-C-06-1830 osti: 6658633 https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1189905/ ark: ark:/67531/metadc1189905 |
_version_ |
1766342480789241856 |