Organic carbon accumulation in reclaimed mine soils of the Western United States

Ingram, L.J., Stahl, P.D., Wick, A.F. and Anderson, J.D. (2009) Organic carbon accumulation in reclaimed mine soils of the Western United States. In: Lal, R. and Follett, R.F., (eds.) Soil Carbon Sequestration and the Greenhouse Effect. John Wiley & Sons Inc., pp. 311-319.

Abstract

This chapter reviews the available literature investigating rates of carbon (C) accumulation in reclaimed mines located in the arid and semiarid western United States. It investigates the mechanisms and processes by which C may accumulate in reclaimed mine soils. Information regarding accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) presented in the chapter has been obtained primarily from scientific literature on surface coal mine reclamation and studies conducted in the laboratory. Scientific studies that have investigated reclaimed minelands in the Western United States have generally concentrated on reestablishing vegetation or minimizing soil erosion rather than recovery of soil properties and processes, and thus data regarding SOC and soil organic matter are limited. While there is significant loss of C during the mining processes, there is a great potential for much of this C to be sequestered back into degraded mine lands of the western United States, with good reclamation and postreclamation management.

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Environmental and Life Sciences
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Copyright:	© 2009. ASA‐CSSA‐SSSA
Other Information:	SSSA Special Publications; Vol. 57
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/60335

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