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Nitrification Potential in Reclaimed Coal Mine Spoils and Soils in the Semiarid Southwest

Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-8200;

P. R. Fresquez

USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, 2205 Columbia, S.E., Albuquerque, NM 87106.

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

The functioning of the N cycle within mining wastes is necessary for revegetation and long-term stability of the disturbed ecosystem. In view of this, an undisturbed area and eight reclaimed topsoil-covered and without-topsoil spoil areas at the San Juan coal mine in northwestern New Mexico (Fruitland formation, Upper Cretaceous period) were analyzed for initial N contents and nitrification rates to determine the potential of these disturbed but reclaimed areas to cycle N. The age of the reclaimed area varied from 0.2 to 8 yr. Total N, NH⁺₄-N, and NO^–₃ NO^–₂-N concentrations were significantly higher (P 0.05) in without-topsoil spoil areas than in the undisturbed soil or in any of the topsoil-covered areas. Initial, potential nitrification activity was highest in a 5-yr-old reclaimed spoil area that also had the highest extractable NH⁺₄-N. Ammonium and nitrite oxidation activities were measurable in all of the reclaimed areas and in the undisturbed control. Rates of initial NH⁺₄ and NO^–₂ oxidation were not well correlated but were similar in magnitude. Mixing as much as 0.75 kg kg^–1 spoil material with soil delayed, but did not inhibit, nitrification.