13C NMR and EPR spectroscopic evaluation of oil shale mined soil recuperation

In this work, native forest soil (NFS) organic matter (SOM) sample and SOM samples from a neighboring forest soil area of an oil shale mine which is being rehabilitated for thirty years (RFS) were analyzed. X-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies were used to evaluate the soil reclamation of the Brazilian oil shale mining process. Two-dimensional heterospectral correlation studies of the results obtained from EPR and 13C NMR were used to obtain information about SOM structures and their interactions with residual paramagnetic metal ion. The signal of the residual metallic oxycation, VO2+ correlated positively with uronic acid-type hydrophilic organic structures, determined from the 13C NMR spectra, and correlated negatively with the organic free radical (OFR) signal associated with oxygen atoms (g = 2.0042). The hydrophobic aromatic structures correlate positively with the EPR OFR signal associated with carbon atoms (g = 2.0022). The data from the two spectroscopic magnetic techniques show that the used recuperation process is effective.