In the presence of realistic soil inhomogeneities and surface clutter, employment of high-energy photon radiation (x rays or gamma rays) for landmine detection requires mine-feature imaging with centimeter spatial resolution. An x-ray backscatter method has been developed with photon detection efficiency sufficiently high such that an electric power requirement of only hundreds of watts yields ...

Mine reclamation with biosolids increases revegetation success but nutrient addition well in excess of vegetation requirements has the potential to increase leaching of NO3 and other biosolids constituents. A 3-yr water quality monitoring study was conducted on a Pennsylvania mine site reclaimed with biosolids applied at the maximum permitted and standard loading rate of 134 Mg ha. Zero-tension...

A mesocosm experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the addition of Aspergillus niger-treated sugar beet waste, in the presence of rock phosphate, and inoculation with a native, metal-tolerant bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, on the stabilisation of soil aggregates of two mine tailings, with differing pH values, from a semiarid Mediterranean area and on the stimulation of growth ...

As a widespread problem, heavy metals contamination in soil has drawn considerable study interest, especially for the farmlands around mine area. A variety of pollution evaluation methods have been compared including both traditional physical and chemical analysis methods as well as ecological assessment methods. And the combination of multiple assessment methods was recommended to get a compre...

Parameters characterizing the structure of the decomposer food web, biomass of the soil microflora (bacteria and fungi) and soil micro-, meso- and macrofauna were studied at 14 non-reclaimed 1- 41-year-old post-mining sites near the town of Sokolov (Czech Republic). These observations on the decomposer food webs were compared with knowledge of vegetation and soil microstructure development from...

Pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) are co-introduced into soils by irrigation with reclaimed wastewater. We targeted carbamazepine (CBZ) as a model compound to study the tertiary interactions between relatively polar PCs, DOM, and soil. Sorption-desorption behavior of CBZ was studied with bulk clay soil and the corresponding clay size fraction in the following sys...

Due to economical and environmental issues, utilization of mineral wastes, e.g. iron ore mine tailing (IOMT), as road materials can be recommended as a sustainable alternative. In the present study, mechanical properties, as well as resistance to freezing and thawing cycles (F-T) of low plasticity clay soil stabilized with different percentages of Portland cement (0, 6, 9, 12 and 15%) and diffe...

Early successional plant community assemblage within a reclamation field trial at the Detour Lake Mine in northeastern Ontario is assessed, and compared with reference forested historically reclaimed sites. The examines eight amendment treatment combinations that include treatments winter kill cover crop of oats, fertilizer, biosolids, peat, thereof. objectives this study are to: (1) Investigat...

Anthropogenic land use change (LUC) affects soil quality and the global carbon (C) pool. Such LUC is a potential threat for forest ecosystems because it can alter biome increases emission of greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Here, we investigated changes in CO2 following afforestation reclaimed coal mine agriculture created tropical dry deciduous Jharkhand, India. Soil samples were collected from affor...

Acid mine drainage is the result of the oxidation process of sulfide bearing rocks. This process occurs when the sulfide material is exposed to atmospheric conditions. Under these conditions, successive oxidation reactions yield sulfuric acid generating acidic waters. This problem becomes more serious when the surrounding rocks are not able to neutralize the acid. The low pH condition of the dr...