Survey of Biological and Chemical Properties Across Mine Tailing Anthrosols of South Africa.

Mining and mineral extraction are common in many parts of the world. In South Africa ore commonly is extracted for gold, uranium, lead, copper, zinc and manganese. The byproducts, or tailings, from the refinement process of the target element(s) may reslty in large repositories that vary spatiailly across the deposited sediments. Vegetative reestablishment on the tailings is particularly important yet also very difficult as extreme soil properties may present themselves in the form of high or low soil reaction (pH), salinity, compaction, surface crusting, high residual metal content, steep slopes, and limited soil moisture. The objectives of this study were to investigate the spatial variability and relationships between the geochemistry and microbial activities of South African mine tailings using  proximal sensors (PXRF and VisNIR DRS) and traditional XRD and SEM analysis for geochemical analyses and enzyme assays for biological analyses.