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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Use of Principal Components for Scaling Up Topographic Models to Map Soil Redistribution and Soil Organic Carbon
Published on: October 16, 2018
Linking soil variability with plant community composition along a mine-slope topographic gradient: Implications for
Daphne López-Marcos1,2, María Belén Turrión3,4, Carolina Martínez-Ruiz3,4
1Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, E.T.S. de Ingenierías Agrarias, Universidad de Valladolid, Campus La Yutera, Avda. Madrid 50, 34071, Palencia, Spain. daphne.lopez@uva.es.
Abstract:
Soil heterogeneity generated during the topographic restoration of opencast coalmines determines important differences in vegetation dynamics. The relationship between soil and vegetation along a reclaimed mine slope was assessed. Two vegetation patches (grassland and shrubland) were distinguished and compared with the adjacent forest. Seven sampling transects (3:3:1, grassland:shrubland:forest) were implemented for soil and vegetation characterization. Eleven years after reclamation significant differences between the reference community and the reclaimed communities, and along the reclaimed mine slope, were found. A topographic gradient was observed in the vegetation distribution associated with water and organic matter content: Grassland patches occupy the upper parts of the mine slope to where easily oxidizable-carbon/total-carbon ratio increases and shrubland patches occupy the lower parts towards where water retention capacity increases. The plant species segregation along the mine-slope topographic gradient was related to stages of different maturity of vegetation and soil properties. Novel aspects in plant-soil systems understanding in reclaimed mine slopes were addressed.
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