Selected properties of the incipient soils developing on coal mining wastes, Bowen Basin, Australia

Authors: Spain, AV; Hollingsworth, I

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1608_11_Spain

Cite As:
Spain, AV & Hollingsworth, I 2016, 'Selected properties of the incipient soils developing on coal mining wastes, Bowen Basin, Australia', in AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2016: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 173-186, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1608_11_Spain

Download citation as:   ris   bibtex   endnote   text   Zotero


Abstract:
The limited amounts of available good quality, fully developed soil frequently constrain the success of rehabilitation works. Consequently, the minesoils that develop spontaneously on spoil materials and their transported erosion products in post-mining landscapes must be used as alternative growing media in achieving rehabilitation objectives. The minesoils developing on spoils derived from open cut coal mining in four Bowen Basin mines are defined and selected properties contrasted with those of local, fully developed soils. These diverse materials reflect the variety of parent materials present and are developing in immature, geomorphologically active landscapes where they are undergoing substantial physical weathering and, in some places, chemical weathering associated with pyrite oxidation. Important physical limitations as growing media include elevated dispersivity, a high tendency towards crust formation and a very limited development of biologically based structure. Minesoil pH, salinity and sodicity range widely and are used to define twelve classes of materials that reflect their potential limitations as growing media and in substrate stability. Extremes are seen as common and major constraints to soil and ecosystem development. Profile development is largely limited to the surface 50 millimetres. For minesoils to develop eventually into soils in approximate equilibrium with contemporary environments and to provide the ecosystem goods and services necessary to support natural patterns of biodiversity, productivity and water quality, their long-term development pathways need to be better understood.

Keywords: coal mining wastes, soil development, Bowen Basin

References:
Anonymous 2015a, Queensland’s coal – mines and advanced projects, Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland, viewed 12 September 2015,
Anonymous 2015b, Minitab version 17, viewed 28 August 2015,
Baker, JC, Fielding, CR, de Caritat, P & Wilkinson, MM 1993, ‘Permian evolution of sandstone composition in a complex back-arc extensional to foreland basin: the Bowen Basin’, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, vol. 63, pp. 881–893.
Birkeland, P 1984, Soils and Geomorphology, Oxford University Press: N.Y.
Bockheim, JG, Gennadiyev, AN, Hartemink, AE & Brevik, EC 2014, ‘Soil-forming factors and Soil Taxonomy’, Geoderma, vol. 226–227, pp. 231–237.
Brewer, R 1954, ‘Soil parent material’, The Australian Journal of Science, pp. 134–138.
Bui, EN, Thornhill, A & Miller, JT 2014, ‘Salt- and alkaline-tolerance are linked in Acacia’, Biology Letters, vol. 10, .
Carroll, C, Pink, L & Burger, P 2004, ‘Coalmine rehabilitation: a long term erosion and water quality study on Central Queensland coalmines’, in ISCO 2004, 13th International Soil Conservation Organisation Conference, Conserving Soil and Water for Society: Sharing Solutions, paper 406, p. 6.
Chesworth, W 1973, ‘The parent rock effect in the genesis of soil’, Geoderma, vol. 10, pp. 215–225.
Department of Environment and Resource Management 2011, Salinity Management Handbook, Second edition, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Queensland.
Department of Minerals and Energy 1995, Technical Guidelines for the Environmental Management of Exploration and Mining in Queensland: Part B Assessment and Management of Saline/Sodic Wastes, Queensland Government, Brisbane.
Down, CH 1975, ‘Soil development on colliery waste tips in relation to age. 1. Introduction and physical factors’, Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 12, pp. 613–622.
Erskine, PD & Fletcher, AT 2013, ‘Novel ecosystems created by coal mines in central Queensland’s Bowen Basin’, Ecological Processes, vol. 2, 33, p. 12.
Hazleton, P & Murphy, B 2007, Interpreting Test Results, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood.
Hutton, AC 2009, ‘Geological setting of Australian coal deposits’, in R Kininmonth & E Baafi (eds), Australasian Coal Mining Practice, The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Carlton, Victoria.
Isbell, RF 1996, The Australian Soil Classification System, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
ISSS Working Group WRB 2014, ‘World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, International Soil Classification System for Naming Soils and Creating Legends for Soil Maps’, World Soil Resources Reports No. 106, FAO, Rome.
Johnson, DL & Hole, FD 1994, ‘Soil formation theory: a summary of its principal impacts on geography, geomorphology, soilgeomorphology, Quaternary geology and palaeopedology’, in R Amundson, J Harden & M Singer (eds), Factors of Soil Formation: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective, Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin.
Kelly, RE & Kelly, RE 1987, ‘Prediction of some minespoil characteristics from exploration drill hole logs’, in Environmental Workshop 1987 Papers, Australian Mining Industry Council, Dickson, ACT, pp. 49–65.
Li, X, Park, JH, Edraki, M & Baumgartl, T 2014, ‘Understanding the salinity issue of coal mine spoils in the context of salt cycle’, Environmental Geochemistry and Health, vol. 36, pp. 453–465.
Loveday, J & Pyle, J 1973, ‘The Emerson dispersion test and its relation to hydraulic conductivity’, CSIRO Australia, Division of Soils Technical Paper, No. 15, p. 7.
Marcar, N & Crawford, DF 2004, Trees for Saline Landscapes, Publication 03/108, Rural Industry Research Fund, Kingston, ACT.
Marschner, H 1995, Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, Academic Press, London.
Munns, R & Tester, M 2008, ‘Mechanisms of salinity tolerance’, Annual Review of Plant Biology, vol. 59, pp. 651–681.
Mutton, AJ 2003, Queensland Coals, Physical and Chemical Properties, Colliery and Company Information, 14th Edition, Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland, Brisbane.
Phillips, JD 2009, ‘Soils as extended composite phenotypes’, Geoderma, vol. 149, pp. 143–151.
Rayment, GE & Higginson, FR 1992, Australian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods, Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Rengasamy, P 2010, ‘Soil processes affecting crop production in salt-affected soil’, Functional Plant Biology, vol. 37, pp. 613–620.
Rengasamy, P & Olsson, KA 1991, ‘Sodicity and soil structure’, Australian Journal of Soil Research, vol. 29, pp. 935–952.
Rengel, Z 2002, ‘Role of pH in availability of ions in soil’ in Z. Rengel (ed.), Handbook of Plant Growth, pH as the Master Variable, Marcel Dekker, NY.
Richter, DD 2007, ‘Humanity's transformation of earth's soil: pedology's new frontier’, Soil Science, vol. 172, pp. 957–967.
Roe, PA 1992, ‘Overview of environmental practices in the Queensland coal mining industry – rehabilitation’, in Seventeenth Annual Environmental Workshop 1992 Papers, Australian Mining Industry Council, Dickson, ACT, pp. 49–65.
Roe, PA, Mulligan, DR & Bell, LC 1996, ‘Environmental management of coal mines in the Bowen Basin’, in DW Mulligan (ed.), Environmental Management in the Australian Minerals and Energy Industries, UNSW Press/Australian Minerals & Energy Environment Foundation, Sydney.
Sencindiver, JC & Ammons, JT 2000, ‘Minesoil Genesis and Classification’, RI Barnhisel, WL Daniels & RG Darmondy (eds), Reclamation of Drastically Disturbed Lands, Agronomy Monograph, Monograph No. 41. ASA, Madison WI, pp. 595–613.
Shaw, R 1999, ‘Soil salinity-electrical conductivity and chloride’, in K Peverill, L Sparrow & D Reuter (eds), Soil Analysis an Interpretation Manual, CSIRO, Melbourne, pp. 129–146.
Sheoran, V, Sheoran, AS & Poonia, P 2010, ‘Soil reclamation of abandoned mine land by revegetation: a review’, International Journal of Soil, Sediment and Water, vol. 3, article 13.
Soil Survey Staff 2014, Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 12th edition, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington DC.
Spain, AV, Esterle, J & McLennan, TPT 1995a, ‘Information from geology: implications for soil formation and rehabilitation in the post coalmining environment, Bowen Basin, Australia’, in IL Follington, JW Beeston & LH Hamilton (eds) Bowen Basin Symposium — 1995: 150 Years On, GSA Inc, Coal Geology Group, Brisbane, pp. 147–155.
Spain, AV, Fitzpatrick, R, Hindley, N, Hollingsworth, I, Jones, Joyce, S, Ludwig, J, McFadzean, S, Playfair, L, Soole, P & Tongway, D 1995b, ‘Measurement of the Rate of Soil Formation in Spoil and Rehabilitated Spoil Landforms at BHP Australia Coal Pty Ltd Mines, Central Queensland’, AV Spain (ed), unpublished draft report to BHP Australia Coal, CSIRO Australia, Minesite Rehabilitation Research Program.
Spain, AV, Esterle, J, Hollingsworth, I, Joyce, S, McFadzean, S & Soole, KP 1997, ‘Spoil Characterisation Studies and Minesoil Development at Oaky Creek Coal Mine’, unpublished report to Oaky Creek Coal Co, Minesite Rehabilitation Research Program, CSIRO.
Tongway, DJ & Ludwig, JA 2011, Restoring Disturbed Landscapes, Putting Principles into Practice, Island Press, Washington DC.
Whiting, D 1995, ‘Types and Properties of Surface Crust Phenomena Forming on Incipient Soils on Spoil at the Blackwater Mine, Central Queensland’, unpublished B.Appl.Sc. (Hons) thesis, Department of Environmental Sciences and Geography, James Cook University of North Queensland.
Wong, VNL, Dalal, RC & Greene, RSB 2008, ‘Salinity and sodicity effects on respiration and microbial biomass of soil’, Biology and Fertility of Soils, vol. 44, pp. 943–953.
Wong, VNL, Greene, RSB, Dalal, RC & Murphy, BW 2010, ‘Soil carbon dynamics in saline and sodic soils: a review’, Soil Use and Management, vol. 26, pp. 2–11.




© Copyright 2024, Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG), The University of Western Australia. All rights reserved.
View copyright/legal information
Please direct any queries or error reports to repository-acg@uwa.edu.au