Soils on overburden dumps in the forest-steppe and mountain taiga zones of the Kuzbass

The properties of the soils forming on coal dumps significantly depend on the properties of the parent rocks and the technology of creating the dumps. In the forest-steppe and mountain taiga zones of the Kuznetsk Coal Basin, argillites, siltstones, and sandstones are the overburden and enclosing rocks. They are responsible for the alkaline reaction and the same microelement composition in almost all the soils studied. The nonselective formation of the dumps and the predominance of the coarse fraction in the rocks composing the dumps is a cause of the wide distribution of petrozems and humus petrozems on their surface. The presence of a great amount of coal particles in the substrates and the incorrect planning of the dumps may be the reasons for their self-ignition, which can change the composition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the soils of the dumps.