Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment

Mining contributes significantly to economic development, but it also entails extensive environmental damage, such as soil degradation and water and air pollution. Mining activity impacts the soil quality, often making it unable to support ecosystem function and structure. The current study aims to...

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Autores principales:	Nathan Levi, Noa Hillel, Eli Zaady, Guy Rotem, Yaron Ziv, Arnon Karnieli, Tarin Paz-Kagan
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Ecological restoration Soil indicators Hyper-arid ecosystems Biocrusts Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5afa1ea3d4f540028bbfece9e91bbee3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5afa1ea3d4f540028bbfece9e91bbee32021-12-01T04:48:18ZSoil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107571https://doaj.org/article/5afa1ea3d4f540028bbfece9e91bbee32021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21002363https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XMining contributes significantly to economic development, but it also entails extensive environmental damage, such as soil degradation and water and air pollution. Mining activity impacts the soil quality, often making it unable to support ecosystem function and structure. The current study aims to apply the soil quality index (SQI) as a methodology for quantifying soil restoration status in an open-pit phosphate mine in Israel’s hyper-arid environment. In this regard, we evaluated an ecological restoration practice that includes topsoil refilling compared to the adjacent undisturbed natural system, using transformed and standardized scorings of 11 physical, biological, and chemical soil properties that were further statistically integrated into overall SQI values. Our results revealed significant differences between the restoration practice areas and the nearby natural areas, with a higher soil quality value in the latter. It is proposed that the topsoil restoration method is mainly affected by soil biological indicators, such as soil organic matter, soil proteins, and polysaccharides related to micro-organic growth, and in a lesser extent, by physical properties (primarily infiltration rate, followed by AWC). The former properties encourage the biocrust establishment, which is essential for soil surface stabilization and affects the water infiltration rate and nutrient availability. The chemical indicators showed no significant differences between most of the sites for the overall soil quality. In conclusion, soil properties, primarily physio-biological ones, should be selected to quantify and evaluate restoration practices in hyper-arid ecosystems.Nathan LeviNoa HillelEli ZaadyGuy RotemYaron ZivArnon KarnieliTarin Paz-KaganElsevierarticleEcological restorationSoil indicatorsHyper-arid ecosystemsBiocrustsEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 125, Iss , Pp 107571- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Ecological restoration Soil indicators Hyper-arid ecosystems Biocrusts Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Ecological restoration Soil indicators Hyper-arid ecosystems Biocrusts Ecology QH540-549.5 Nathan Levi Noa Hillel Eli Zaady Guy Rotem Yaron Ziv Arnon Karnieli Tarin Paz-Kagan Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
description	Mining contributes significantly to economic development, but it also entails extensive environmental damage, such as soil degradation and water and air pollution. Mining activity impacts the soil quality, often making it unable to support ecosystem function and structure. The current study aims to apply the soil quality index (SQI) as a methodology for quantifying soil restoration status in an open-pit phosphate mine in Israel’s hyper-arid environment. In this regard, we evaluated an ecological restoration practice that includes topsoil refilling compared to the adjacent undisturbed natural system, using transformed and standardized scorings of 11 physical, biological, and chemical soil properties that were further statistically integrated into overall SQI values. Our results revealed significant differences between the restoration practice areas and the nearby natural areas, with a higher soil quality value in the latter. It is proposed that the topsoil restoration method is mainly affected by soil biological indicators, such as soil organic matter, soil proteins, and polysaccharides related to micro-organic growth, and in a lesser extent, by physical properties (primarily infiltration rate, followed by AWC). The former properties encourage the biocrust establishment, which is essential for soil surface stabilization and affects the water infiltration rate and nutrient availability. The chemical indicators showed no significant differences between most of the sites for the overall soil quality. In conclusion, soil properties, primarily physio-biological ones, should be selected to quantify and evaluate restoration practices in hyper-arid ecosystems.
format	article
author	Nathan Levi Noa Hillel Eli Zaady Guy Rotem Yaron Ziv Arnon Karnieli Tarin Paz-Kagan
author_facet	Nathan Levi Noa Hillel Eli Zaady Guy Rotem Yaron Ziv Arnon Karnieli Tarin Paz-Kagan
author_sort	Nathan Levi
title	Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
title_short	Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
title_full	Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
title_fullStr	Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
title_full_unstemmed	Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
title_sort	soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/5afa1ea3d4f540028bbfece9e91bbee3
work_keys_str_mv	AT nathanlevi soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT noahillel soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT elizaady soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT guyrotem soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT yaronziv soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT arnonkarnieli soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment AT tarinpazkagan soilqualityindexforassessingphosphateminingrestorationinahyperaridenvironment
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Soil quality index for assessing phosphate mining restoration in a hyper-arid environment

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