Restoration of Soils and Vegetation on Reclamation Sites of the Kingisepp Phosphorite Field

Processes of initial soil formation were studied on long-term monitoring plots on dump rocks of quarry no. 3 of the Phosphorite production company in Kingisepp district of Leningrad oblast. Observations were performed in 1998, 2004, and 2014. It was shown that vegetation succession on the plots proceeds relatively quickly, and that the species composition of phytocenoses formed is typical of the areas with soddy-calcareous soils. Soil development proved to be correlated with the development of vegetation. Maximum changes in soil characteristics were observed with an increase in the density of forest vegetation and a decrease in the role of herbs. The molecular composition of humic acids in the studied soils remained stable; in particular, the ratio of aliphatic to alkyl aromatic fragments was virtually constant. This phenomenon could be due to the great amount of aliphatic components in the falloff of coniferous species subjected to humification.