Characterization of Physico-chemical Properties and their Impact on Enzyme Activities in a Chronosequence Coal Mine Overburden Spoil as Biomarker of Reclamation Process

Abstract

Mining activities lead to land degrdn. and alter ecosystem functions. Monitoring land degrdn. status is essential to take appropriate and timely conservation measures. Soil genesis during early years of mine spoil reclamation is crit. and may help to predict reclamation success. The microbial activity is significantly influenced by the physico-chem. properties, and hence, the assessment of these changes is essential for soil management practices. In the present investigation, the physico-chem. characterization and the activities of six different enzymes (amylase, invertase, protease, urease, phosphatase and dehydrogenase) were periodically analyzed with respect to different coal mine overburden spoil in chronosequence over a period of 10 yr, and compared with the native forest soil, in order to assess their effectiveness in reclaiming mine overburden spoil. Comparative anal. suggested that there was gradual increase in enzyme activities from a nutrient deficient situation (fresh mine spoil) to an enriched soil (native forest soil). Besides, the variation in enzyme activities was significantly attributable to differences in physico-chem. properties. Stepwise multiple regression anal. was performed in order to det. the contribution of different physico-chem. properties influencing the variability in enzyme activities. Further, principal component anal. was able to discriminate six coal mine overburden spoils and native forest soil into independent clusters on the basis of their physico-chem. properties and enzyme activities. The study clearly revealed that the change in microbial indexes in terms of enzyme activities were more responsive and correlated very well with the extent of land degrdn., and therefore, can serve as biomarker for reclamation studies. [on SciFinder(R)]