Origin of nitrogen in reforested lignite-rich mine soils revealed by stable isotope analysis

Restoration of the nitrogen cycle is an important step in the recovery of an ecosystem after mining. Carbon and nitrogen in rehabilitated lignite containing mine soils can be derived from plant material as well as from lignite inherent to the parent substrate. We assessed the use elemental and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements to trace the orgin of soil nitrogen and applied these techniques to elucidate the origin of mineral N in the soil and the soil solution. The conceptual approach of this study included physical fractionation in addition to sampling of vegetation and soil from a lignite-containing mine site rehabilitated in 1985 with Pinus Nigra. We studied the elemental and isotopic composition of bulk samples as well as isolated fractions and soil solution. Our data indicate that the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of the soil samples are the result of mixing between plant material and substrate inherent lignite. delta N-15 isotopes may be used as indicators of nitrogen contribution from plants to solid samples as well as soil solution. N-isotope composition of ammonia shows low spatial and interannual variability, despite strong concentration changes. Plant-derived nitrogen contributes in higher amounts to the soil solution compared to the bulk mineral soil.