Soil fertility analysis in and around magnesite mines, Salem, India

Abstract

The opencast mining operations have periodical effects in surrounding landscape and it is important to monitor the quality of the soil. The pre- and post-mining activities influence the soil quality due to removal of vegetation and topsoil cover. The low-grade magnesite ores and dumping of waste materials are the root causes of contamination of soil. The samples collected from the depth of 15 cm on the surface of soil with different physical (soil texture and soil moisture) and chemical (pH, organic carbon, and nitrogen) parameters are analyzed to study the effect of opencast mining on the surrounding soil. Nine soil samples collected from three magnesite mine sites include agriculture land in close proximity. The result of this analysis predicts the sample soils deficiency of nutrients contents like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium. The soil analysis comprises chemical parameters such as pH, lime status, texture, electrical conductivity, available macronutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), and micronutrients such as Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu percentages which are used to determine the condition and quality of the soil. The STATISTICA software (ver.8) was used for analysis of Pearson’s correlation with linear relationship of soil samples and rows and columns of data matrix on cluster analysis.