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Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria

Received: 25 February 2015     Accepted: 25 February 2015     Published: 19 May 2015
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Abstract

Soils of a mine site at Leru, Abia State, Nigeria were characterized and classified for proper usage .A transect survey technique was employed in which a traverse was cut to link soils affected by mining to the unaffected soils in the area. Soil profile pits were dug described and sampled using standard techniques. Routine laboratory analyses were conducted on soil samples for selected soil properties. Soil data were subjected to mean statistic. Results indicated increasing sandiness and hulk densi1 in the epipedons closest to the mine site. Mean value of soil moisture in un-mined site (149.8 g kg-1) was higher than those of mine soils (144.2 g kg-1 for middle land unit and 137.0g kg-1 for pedon closest to the mine site). Mine soils were younger with silt-clay ratio ranging from 3.7 to 7.0 while unaffected soils were older (silt-clay ratio = 0.6). Low values of calcium-magnesium ratios (Ca/Mg < 3.0) were reported. Soil pH progressively increased towards un-mined site. The soil profile proximal to the mine site was shallower (depth <1 00cm) when compared with other soil profiles, and had a lithic contact at 90 cm depth. Based on field and laboratory analysis soils were classified as Lithic Dystrudepts (5 metres away from mine site), Typic Haplanthrepts (25 metres away from mine site) and Typic Hapludults (2 kilometres away from mine site).

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 4, Issue 3-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Environment and Applied Science Management in a Changing Global Climate

DOI 10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16
Page(s) 34-39
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Classification, Degradation, Mining, Soils, Topography

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    E. U. Onweremadu, E. I. Uzor, Egbuche C. T., L. C. Agim, D. J. Njoku, et al. (2015). Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 4(3-1), 34-39. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16

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    ACS Style

    E. U. Onweremadu; E. I. Uzor; Egbuche C. T.; L. C. Agim; D. J. Njoku, et al. Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria. Agric. For. Fish. 2015, 4(3-1), 34-39. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16

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    AMA Style

    E. U. Onweremadu, E. I. Uzor, Egbuche C. T., L. C. Agim, D. J. Njoku, et al. Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria. Agric For Fish. 2015;4(3-1):34-39. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16,
      author = {E. U. Onweremadu and E. I. Uzor and Egbuche C. T. and L. C. Agim and D. J. Njoku and A. C. Udebuani},
      title = {Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3-1},
      pages = {34-39},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.s.2015040301.16},
      abstract = {Soils of a mine site at Leru, Abia State, Nigeria were characterized and classified for proper usage .A transect survey technique was employed in which a traverse was cut to link soils affected by mining to the unaffected soils in the area. Soil profile pits were dug described and sampled using standard techniques. Routine laboratory analyses were conducted on soil samples for selected soil properties. Soil data were subjected to mean statistic. Results indicated increasing sandiness and hulk densi1 in the epipedons closest to the mine site. Mean value of soil moisture in un-mined site (149.8 g kg-1) was higher than those of mine soils (144.2 g kg-1 for middle land unit and 137.0g kg-1 for pedon closest to the mine site). Mine soils were younger with silt-clay ratio ranging from 3.7 to 7.0 while unaffected soils were older (silt-clay ratio = 0.6). Low values of calcium-magnesium ratios (Ca/Mg < 3.0) were reported. Soil pH progressively increased towards un-mined site. The soil profile proximal to the mine site was shallower (depth <1 00cm) when compared with other soil profiles, and had a lithic contact at 90 cm depth. Based on field and laboratory analysis soils were classified as Lithic Dystrudepts (5 metres away from mine site), Typic Haplanthrepts (25 metres away from mine site) and Typic Hapludults (2 kilometres away from mine site).},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Properties of Mine Soils in a Forested Hilly Terrain of Southeastern Nigeria
    AU  - E. U. Onweremadu
    AU  - E. I. Uzor
    AU  - Egbuche C. T.
    AU  - L. C. Agim
    AU  - D. J. Njoku
    AU  - A. C. Udebuani
    Y1  - 2015/05/19
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16
    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    SP  - 34
    EP  - 39
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.16
    AB  - Soils of a mine site at Leru, Abia State, Nigeria were characterized and classified for proper usage .A transect survey technique was employed in which a traverse was cut to link soils affected by mining to the unaffected soils in the area. Soil profile pits were dug described and sampled using standard techniques. Routine laboratory analyses were conducted on soil samples for selected soil properties. Soil data were subjected to mean statistic. Results indicated increasing sandiness and hulk densi1 in the epipedons closest to the mine site. Mean value of soil moisture in un-mined site (149.8 g kg-1) was higher than those of mine soils (144.2 g kg-1 for middle land unit and 137.0g kg-1 for pedon closest to the mine site). Mine soils were younger with silt-clay ratio ranging from 3.7 to 7.0 while unaffected soils were older (silt-clay ratio = 0.6). Low values of calcium-magnesium ratios (Ca/Mg < 3.0) were reported. Soil pH progressively increased towards un-mined site. The soil profile proximal to the mine site was shallower (depth <1 00cm) when compared with other soil profiles, and had a lithic contact at 90 cm depth. Based on field and laboratory analysis soils were classified as Lithic Dystrudepts (5 metres away from mine site), Typic Haplanthrepts (25 metres away from mine site) and Typic Hapludults (2 kilometres away from mine site).
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 3-1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Soil Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria

  • Department of Soil Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria

  • Department of, Forestry and Wildlife Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

  • Department of Soil Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria

  • Department of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

  • Department of Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

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