Effects of vegetation cover/land use and slope aspect on surface soil properties near the copper smelter factory in Murgul, Turkey
Citation
Küçük, M., Yener, İ., & Duman, A. (2019).Effects of vegetation cover/land use and slope aspect on surface soil properties near the copper smelter factory in Murgul, Turkey. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research, 17(5), 12305-12321. DOI: 10.15666/aeer/1705_1230512321.Abstract
The mining activities, one of the most drastic examples of human intervention to nature, have
considerably deteriorated the environment. Although being one of the smallest and least populated cities
of Turkey, Artvin is notably affected by mining in many ways such as acid rains, water contamination
and medical problems. The activities also affect soil properties. The present study aimed to assess the
effects of restoration and reclamation of the former smelter factory and determine the changes in some
soil properties according to land use/land cover (LULC) and slope aspect. With this purpose, Pearson
correlation and two-way ANOVA methods were used. Results showed that while LULC significantly
affected (p < 0.05) all soil properties except silt content, bulk density, CaCO3 content, C:N ratio, Cd and
Zn; slope aspect significantly affected less soil properties such as sand, silt, pH, EC, CaCO3 and Pb. The
interaction between factors also significantly affected (p < 0.05) soil properties like LULC. According to
partial eta squared (η2) values, while the most significantly affected soil properties by LULC, slope
aspect and their interaction were found to be Cr (0.93), Clay (0.59) and Cr (0.94), respectively; the ones
least affected were found to be total nitrogen (0.12), CaCO3 (0.14) and total nitrogen for 63-day (0.18),
respectively. Despite the black alder’s and black locust’s lack of phytoremediation abilities concerning
soil heavy metal content except Pb, Alnus glutinosa and Robinia pseudoacacia may be suggested for the
restoration and reclamation of mining soils in terms of phytoremediation beside their advantages such as
improving nitrogen mineralization.