Li, Renssheng2014-03-142014-03-141991-06-05etd-10142005-135808http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39924Deficiency of available nitrogen (N) is one of the major factors limiting the establishment of a long term self-sustaining vegetative community on mine soils. This investigation was conducted to study the nature of N form and dynamics in southwest Virginia mine soils. Fresh mine spoils contained a large amount of indigenous N, ranging from 650 to 2500 mg/kg soil, which complicated N studies. Most of the indigenous N was "geologic N" which was unavailable to plants. The geologic N came from either 2:1 silicate minerals (fixed NH₄⁺) or coal fragments (nonhydrolyzable organic N). Active N, consisting of hydrolyzable organic N and exchangeable N, comprised the minor fraction of indigenous N available to plants.xii, 150 leavesBTDapplication/pdfenIn CopyrightLD5655.V856 1991.L5Mines and mineral resources -- Virginia -- SouthwesternSoils -- Virginia -- SouthwesternDissertationhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10142005-135808/