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Soil construction: A step for ecological reclamation of derelict lands

  • Research Article
  • Soils, Section 3: Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands
  • Published:
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Abstract

Goal, Scope and Background

Efficient and environmentally friendly technologies for soil reclamation require efforts to develop innovative processes. Alternative technologies to drastic techniques (containment, total removal of soil) are receiving increasing interest. They are based either on the use of ameliorants (e.g. lime, fertilizer, organic mulch) and more recently on the spreading of organic wastes (e.g. compost, sewage sludge). This paper presents a new process of soil construction using wastes and industrial by-products which are formulated and stacked in layers to build a new soil profile over in situ degraded substrates. Work was conducted to assess the feasibility of the ecological reclamation, focusing on the major functions of constructed Technosols.

Materials and Methods

Two large lysimetric plots (10 × 10 m) were built on a former coking plant, and two strategies of constructed soil profiles were compared: i) a control soil using thermally treated industrial soil available in situ, and ii) a constructed soil with a combination of thermally treated industrial soil mixed with exogenous materials such as green waste compost and paper mill sludge. Rainfall was measured periodically, drainage effluent was collected, and aliquots were sampled per plot. Plants were collected in 8 replicates for each plot.

Results

Water balance data showed that about 10% of the rain water percolated through the constructed soil profiles. Drainage effluent contained a low concentration of contaminants, below the French water drinking standards. Plants grew without any deficiency symptoms on both plots. Apart from the sowed plants, indigenous species developed on the constructed Technosols.

Discussion

The experimental set-up was representative of the real conditions for the implementation of such reclamation technologies. In spite of the significant concentrations of trace elements in the parent materials, the fluxes in the drainage effluent were very low because of the high pH. Significantly higher biomass values were recorded on the constructed soil than on the control, as well as a better development of indigenous plants.

Conclusions

The constructed soils are examples of Technosols as they are made exclusively of technogenic parent materials. Our results showed that they can behave like natural soils (water cycle, trace elements filtration, biomass production). The process of soil construction is not only an efficient way to reclaim derelict lands, but also a safe alternative for the recycling of wastes and by-products with a minimum use of unpolluted and fertile agricultural soil.

Recommendations

The restoration of soil functions, thanks to the soil construction process, must be considered as a primary step for the ecological reclamation of derelict lands. In this way, the pedo-engineering approach should be considered as an essential part of the global ecological engineering for the reclamation of derelict lands.

Perspectives

Two major outlooks appear: i) testing a larger variety of wastes and by-products as parent materials for different constructed soils, ii) generalize the results on constructed soils to the characterization of Technosols.

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Correspondence to Christophe Schwartz.

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ESS-Submission Editor: Dr. Stefan Norra (stefan.norra@img.uka.de)

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Séré, G., Schwartz, C., Ouvrard, S. et al. Soil construction: A step for ecological reclamation of derelict lands. J Soils Sediments 8, 130–136 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1065/jss2008.03.277

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1065/jss2008.03.277

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