Quality of a revegeted mine spoil in the federal disrict of Brazil

Abstract

The use of organic residues has been shown to be effective for the revegetation of mined areas. However, data on the quality of mine spoils treated with organic residues are rather scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the spoil quality of a mined area in the Brazilian Federal District treated with 250 Mg ha-1 of domestic sewage sludge and covered with herbs grown from seeds. The soil attributes used for the evaluation were bulk density, total porosity, available water capacity, soil resistance to penetration, ΔpH, CEC, base saturation, available phosphorus, organic matter content, abundance and diversity of soil macro-fauna. Results show that plowing sewage sludge into the spoil and the establishment of a herbaceous layer improved the chemical and biological qualities but not the physical one. The rate of sewage sludge applied to the spoil increased the values of the chemical parameters to more than normally measured for soils under native Cerrado vegetation. If revegetation is focused on the restoration of the local ecosystem, techniques to improve spoil physical quality and without exceeding natural fertility levels must be developed.