Agricultural exploitation of mining by-products

The aim of the project is to reveal the agricultural areas in need of improvement based on the characteristic of the parent material and to assess where and what type of mining by-products are suitable for soil improvement.

On the one part, the aim of the project is to reveal agricultural areas in need of improvement (pilot area research) on the basis of the properties of parent material, and to assess where and what type of mining by-products are suitable for soil improvement. In the first phase of the work we examined the occurrence of sandy parent materials in the Great Hungarian Plain, and then narrowed the spatial research, we carried out the evaluation of archive geochemical data for the plants in several pilot areas covered by eolian or fluvial sand. We have found that these areas are poor in microelements or their supply is satisfactory but not optimal. We started the investigation of mining in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, potentially suitable brown coal refuse were identified for further research, field sampling and laboratory analysis of samples (sedimentology, geochemistry, X-ray and thermo-analysis) were performed. After the summary of the results, we evaluate the suitability for soil improvement. The next planned research area is the Dorogi Basin.

Project leader: Dr. Barbara Ujházy-Kerék 
E-mail: kerek.barbara@mbfsz.gov.hu
Phone: +36 1 920 2246