Abstract
THE more usual methods of soil extraction and chemical analysis are not entirely applicable to assessment of the potential of unburnt colliery spoil as a medium for plant growth. This is particularly true for spoil heaps in the West Riding of Yorkshire with surface spoil pH. values well below 4.5. Such spoil often contains FeS2 which oxidizes to produce Fe++, SO4−− and H+. It may also contain the carbonate mineral ankerite which is potentially capable of neutralizing the acidity. These reactions produce large quantities of soluble salts, chiefly sulphates.
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Chapman, H. D., and Pratt, P. F., in Methods for Analysis of Soils, Plants and Waters (Calif. Univ., 1961).
Black, C. A., Evans, D. D., White, J. L., Ensminger, L. E., and Clark, F. E., in Methods of Soil Analysis (Amer. Soc. of Agronomy, Madison, 1965).
Jackson, M. L., in Soil Chemical Analysis (Constable, London, 1958).
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CHADWICK, M., CORNWELL, S. & PALMER, M. Exchangeable Acidity in Unburnt Colliery Spoil. Nature 222, 161 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/222161a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/222161a0
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