Soil aggregation and organic carbon in short-term stockpiles

Surface mining is known to drastically reduce soil organic carbon (OC) pools through various mechanisms associated with topsoil salvage, stockpiling and respreading. Stockpiling is an important management practice; however, the effects of this practice on reductions and recovery of soil aggregation and aggregate OC are poorly understood. Objectives of this research were to monitor soil aggregation and aggregate OC in the surface of a short-term stockpile (< 3 yr) followed by a second movement of stockpiled soils to a temporary location. Samples were analysed for aggregate size distribution, aggregate fractions, OC, and organic matter turnover using C-13 natural abundance. Macroaggregate proportions increased and microaggregate proportions decreased after 3 yr of storage, possibly indicating recovery of soil structure. Following the removal of the stockpile and placement in a temporary pile, macroaggregation decreased and free silt and clay fractions increased relative to initially stockpiled soils. The second disturbance resulted in greater destruction of aggregate structure than the initial disturbance during topsoil salvage. Aggregate organic matter (as indicated by OC) increased significantly between the early sampling of the stockpiled soils (< 1 yr in storage) and the placement of the topsoil in a temporary pile in macroaggregates and remained the same for microaggregates. Organic matter not protected within aggregates decreased with storage time as this material was available for utilization by microbes while aggregate protected organic matter (OM) remained unchanged or slightly increased for macro- and microaggregates with stockpile storage time. Aggregate delta C-13 values did not indicate inclusion of new OM within soil aggregates after 3 yr of topsoil stockpiling. Short-term stockpiling was beneficial for aggregation in the surface layers where plant roots and microbial communities were active; however, subsequent movement of the topsoil resulted in a greater loss of soil aggregation relative to the initial topsoil salvage without impacting soil OC.