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Carbon Storage And Cycling Of Reclaimed Mine Soils In Southeastern Kentucky, Alice Jones, Kelly Barber, Peter Acton, James Fox
Carbon Storage And Cycling Of Reclaimed Mine Soils In Southeastern Kentucky, Alice Jones, Kelly Barber, Peter Acton, James Fox
Alice Jones
Since the passage of the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) in 1977, the most common type of surface mine reclamation is heavy compaction followed by grass seeding. To promote better vegetative recovery after mining, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) promotes leaving the top four feet of fill material loose and planting a seedling mix of native hardwood trees. This study aims to quantify the effects of the resulting soil bulk densities on decomposition processes through the analysis of carbon storage and cycling in the soil column. Soil carbon storage mechanisms are divided into specific size classes/pools, each corresponding …