Abstract:
Soil compaction impedes plant growth by negatively a ecting water infiltration, soil
aeration, access to soil water and nutrients, and consequently restricts root development. Previous
studies to alleviate such problems in rehabilitated mine soils using a single amendment material
did not provide a long lasting solution. The aim of the study was to quantify the role of di erent
amendments in alleviating selected soil hydraulic properties. Five single amendment materials
and three di erent blends of amendments were mixed thoroughly with degraded mine soil in a
1:3 (amendment:soil) ratio and packed in columns. Two additional unamended soils with di erent
bulk densities were included as benchmarks. In general, the application of amendments reduced
bulk density (BD) by 4–20%, enhanced infiltration rate by 15–70%, increased porosity by 5–35% and
increased plant available water (PAW) by 9–33% compared with the unamended soils. Between
amendments, the blends of amendments reduced BD by 9–16%, enhanced infiltration rate by 17–59%,
increased porosity by 6–32%, and PAW by 4–28% compared with single amendments. The study
showed that a blend of amendments have better soil restoration capacity through improving porosity,
infiltration rate and plant available water. A blend of amendments therefore has the potential to be a
sustainable and an important component of a rehabilitation strategy for surface coal mined soils.
