Reclamation for aspen revegetation in the Athabasca oil sands: Understanding soil water dynamics through unsaturated flow modelling
Por:
Carrera-Hernández J.J., Mendoza C.A., Devito K.J., Petrone R.M., Smerdon B.D.
Publicada:
1 ene 2012
Categoría:
Soil Science
Resumen:
Carrera-Hernandez, J.J., Mendoza, C.A., Devito, K.J., Petrone, R.M. and Smerdon, B.D. 2012. Reclamation for aspen revegetation in the Athabasca oil sands: Understanding soil water dynamics through unsaturated flow modelling. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 103-116. Reclamation of mined areas in the Athabasca oil sands region is required by law, with the ultimate goal of revegetating to species characteristic of predisturbance native plant communities. To develop adequate reclamation strategies, an analysis of soil water dynamics is of utmost importance, as is understanding the impact of the thickness of the reclamation cover. In this work, soil water dynamics and fluxes at the water table were simulated for three reclamation scenarios and compared with the fluxes obtained for natural conditions assuming that aspen is the target reclamation species. According to the simulations, a reclamation thickness between 0.5 and 1.0 m can be used to provide water for revegetation. The numerical simulations
Filiaciones:
Carrera-Hernández J.J.:
University of Alberta, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada
Mendoza C.A.:
University of Alberta, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada
Devito K.J.:
University of Alberta, Department of Biological Sciences, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
Petrone R.M.:
Cold Regions Research Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada
Smerdon B.D.:
CSIRO Land and Water, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia
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