Soil & Rehabilitation
Stockpiling of Coal Mine Soils
2016
Physical, chemical and microbiological analysis of 257 unmined, stockpile and rehabilitated soil samples from four Witbank opencast mines, plus a pot trial on amendments, for soil handling planning.
What this report foundStockpiling degraded every soil property measured across four Witbank area mines. Clay content of topsoil and subsoil rose by 50 to 60 per cent, surface bulk...
R1500,00
Stockpiling degraded every soil property measured across four Witbank area mines. Clay content of topsoil and subsoil rose by 50 to 60 per cent, surface bulk density increased from stockpiling through to rehabilitation, and effective depth on rehabilitated areas was under 17 cm in most cases. Topsoil organic carbon fell by almost half and microbial species numbers dropped in the stockpiles.
The impact of cattle grazing on rehabilitated land
Two annual surveys of species composition, biomass and soil sampling inside and outside fenced plots on rehabilitated pasture at an opencast colliery near Ogies, with benchmark sites for comparison.
What this report foundGrazing pressure on the rehabilitated block ran at roughly three times the estimated carrying capacity.
R1500,00
Grazing pressure on the rehabilitated block ran at roughly three times the estimated carrying capacity. The sward was dominated by low quality grasses with a high proportion of bare ground and a raised erosion risk. Fenced exclosures over one year changed the abundance of a few species, but the vegetation showed no clear direction of recovery.