Application of Soil Quality Indicators for the Phytorestoration of Mine Spoil Dumps

Abstract Mining causes drastic land disturbances. Many soil functions and properties are greatly affected. Mining is a temporary activity and after the completion of a mining project the land can be reclaimed and some of the soil’s quality and functions restored. Monitoring the changes in soil quality helps assess the success of reclamation and identify necessary amendments, and in the selection of suitable tree species for remediation. Soil quality monitoring can be achieved over time by measuring a few key soil indicator parameters successively. Various protocols exist for identifying appropriate soil quality indicators. Principal component analysis is a useful multivariate analysis tool for selecting soil indicator parameters. Once the indicators are identified, the indicator parameters are transformed into unitless scores (0–1) using scoring functions. Finally, the soil scores are integrated into soil quality indices. The index values are validated by regression with end-point variables like plant canopy, tree density, and total biomass, etc. In this chapter, the application of soil quality indicators for the phytorestoration of mine spoil is discussed through analyses of several case studies.