The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. In this quarterly report we present data that show the spatial distribution of carbon in mine soils. Soil carbon data from deep soil pits from grassland minelands located in Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia were analyzed to determine the vertical distribution and variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) down to a 2-m depth. Regression analyses were used to describe and model the distribution by soil depth of C(wt%), BD{sub fines}(g cm{sup -3}), and fines (vol%) in mine soils. The volume of excavated mine soil samples was transformed in terms of costs of digging and sampling, including sample collection and preparation, and C(wt%) analysis, in order to determine the maximum cost-effective depth (MCD) for carbon inventorying on the mined sites analyzed. Based on the horizontal variation of SOC(g m{sup -2}), we determined the sampling intensity required to achieve a desired accuracy of the amount of sequestered SOC(g m{sup -2}) at certain probability levels. The MCD and sampling intensity measurements were used to determine …

The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. During this quarter we worked on methodologies for analyzing carbon in mine soils. A unique property of mine soils is the presence of coal and carboniferous rock particles that are present in mine soils in various sizes, quantities, and qualities. There is no existing method in the literature that may be of use for quantitative estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) in mine soils that can successfully differentiate between pedogenic and geogenic carbon forms. In this report we present a detailed description of a 16-step method for measuring SOC in mine soils designed for and tested on a total of 30 different mine soil mixtures representing a wide spectrum of mine soils in the hard-rock region of the Appalachian coalfield. The proposed method is a combination of chemical procedure for carbonates removal, a thermal procedure for pedogenic C removal, and elemental C analysis procedure at 900 C. Our methodology provides a means to correct for the carbon loss from the more volatile …

The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. We are currently estimating the acreage of lands in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania mined under SMCRA and reclaimed to non-forested post-mining land uses that are not currently under active management, and therefore can be considered as available for carbon sequestration. To determine actual sequestration under different forest management scenarios, a field study was installed as a 3 x 3 factorial in a random complete block design with three replications at each of three locations, one each in Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. The treatments included three forest types (white pine, hybrid poplar, mixed hardwood) and three silvicultural regimes (competition control, competition control plus tillage, competition control plus tillage plus fertilization). Each individual treatment plot is 0.5 acres. Each block of nine plots is 4.5 acres, and the complete installation at each site is 13.5 acres. Regression models of chemical and physical soil properties were created in order to estimate the SOC content down the soil profile. Soil organic carbon …