Effects of different vegetation types on soil properties and quality assessment in semi-arid mining areas

Background Resource exploitation and utilization in mining areas often result in the destruction of soil resources, while land reclamation is a key measure for ecological restoration in mining areas.Method To explore the effects of different reclamation types on soil properties in a semi-arid mining area, soils from bare land, cultivated land, grass land, and forest land in the open-pit mining zone of the Shendong coalfield hinterland were selected as research objects. Soil particle size composition, physical properties, nutrient status, and microbial properties were determined. Based on the analysis of significant differences, the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method was applied to comprehensively evaluate soil quality.Result 1)After reclamation in the mining area, the content of sand particles larger than 0.1 mm in cultivated land, grass land, and forest land significantly decreased compared to bare land (P < 0.05, hereinafter the same), while the contents of silt and clay significantly increased. Among them, forest land had the highest silt content, showing a better improvement effect on particle size composition. 2)In terms of soil physical properties, compared to bare land, the porosity of cultivated land and grass land significantly decreased and bulk density significantly increased, while the opposite was observed in woodland; compared to bare land, the fractal dimension of forest land significantly increased and saturated hydraulic conductivity significantly decreased, and its soil water content was significantly higher than that of cultivated land Grass land. 3)All the vegetation types on the reclaimed land significantly increased the soil nutrient content compared to the bare land. Among them, the cultivated land had the highest content of organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen and available potassium, while the forest land had a significantly higher content of available phosphorus than the other types. 4)than those in bare land; the soil respiration intensity, microbial carbon and peroxidase activity in forest land were the highest, significantly greater than those in cultivated land and grass land; the phosphatase activity in grass land and forest land was significantly higher than that in cultivated land; while there was no significant difference in the elevation of urease activity. 5)Through the comprehensive evaluation of soil quality, the results showed forest land > cultivated land > grass land > bare land, all of which were superior to bare land. Conclusion In this study, the soil quality of forest land and cultivated land reclamation types performed well, and they can be recommended as preferred types for land reclamation and ecological reconstruction in semi-arid mining areas in combination with local needs.