Lunch seminar "Restoring functional soils after oil extraction in the Athabasca Oil Sands region of Canada"

ABSTRACT

Oil sands surface mining has disturbed 715 km² of boreal forest in northern Alberta, Canada which is only 15% of the potential surface-mineable area in the region. During the extraction process, surface soil is removed and stored for later use as a capping treatment.  During reclamation these upland mineral soils are mixed with peat from bogs in the mine footprint to form a peat-mineral mix that caps reclaimed areas prior to vegetation establishment. I will present findings from our research into the development of nutrient cycling, microbial communities, carbon stores and soils structure in the reclaimed soils