Analysis of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Soil Properties in Reclaimed Post Coal Mining Land of PT Berau Coal Binungan Site, Berau Regency, East Kalimantan Province

Abstract

Soil degradation becomes the greatest problem of environmental damage due to coal mining, in particular by open pit method. Proper reclamation must be done to repair post mining land so that soil quality can be recovered approaching the original properties. To analyze the results of the reclamation process on physical, chemical, and biological soil properties changes and their development, it is necessary to study the changes of soil properties at different ages post coal mining land reclamation. This research was aimed to identify the changes of physical, chemical, and biological soil properties in relation to increased reclamation age (0, 3, 6, and 9 years old) and compared them to the nearby forest soil properties. This research was conducted in reclaimed post coal mining lands of PT Berau Coal Site Binungan, East Kalimantan Province (aged 0, 3, 6, and 9 years), and native forest. Soil analysis performed at the Laboratory of Chemical and Soil Fertility, Laboratory of Soil Physics, and Laboratory of Soil Biotechnology, Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University. The results showed that increasing age causes changes in soil properties of reclaimed land approaching the soil properties of original land. This can be seen on the parameters such as bulk density, infiltration capacity, aluminum saturation, C-organic, total N, base saturation, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), total microbial and fungal, and soil respiration. It is apparent that chemical and biological soil properties on reclaimed land change relatively faster approaching the chemical and biological soil properties of the original land compared to that of physical soil properties.