Changes in Some Physical Properties of Soils in the
Chronosequence of Self-Overgrown Dumps of the Sokolov
QuarryDump Complex, Czechia

V. Kurá^a, J. Frouz^{b, e}, M. Kurá^a, A. Mako^c, V. Shustr^b, J. Cejpek^e,
O. V. Romanov^d, and E. V. Abakumov^d

^a Czech Technical University of Prague, Takurova 7, Prague, 16000 Czech Republic

^b Institute of Soil Biology, Biological Center, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Sádkách 7, eské Budéjovice,
38005 Czech Republic

^c University of Pannonia, Deák F. 16, Keszthely, 8350 Hungary

^d St. Petersburg State University, 16 liniya V.O. 29, St. Petersburg, 199178 Russia

^e Institute for Environmental Studies, Charles University in Prague, Benatska 2, Prague, 12801 Czech Republic

Received December 19, 2008

Abstract—The water-physical properties (bulk density, air conductivity, texture, water content, and tempera-
ture dynamics) were studied in a chronosequence of soils developing on self-overgrowing quarry–dump com-
plexes in the area of Sokolov, Czechia. The area overgrown for 12 years was covered by a thin grass cover;
osiers were observed after 20 years of overgrowth; a broadleaved forest was found on a plot after 45 years of
overgrowth. The particle-size distribution in the soil was determined using peptization by pyrophosphate and
the FAO method. When the soil was prepared by the FAO method, a predominance of physical clay (62–72%)
in the dump material was revealed; at the use of pyrophosphate peptization, the content of this fraction was
lower (18–19%). The observed differences can be due to the incomplete degradation of the microaggregates
composed of clay particles during the peptization by pyrophosphate. A decrease in the field water content of
the soils with the increasing time of the dump’s overgrowth was observed. This could be attributed to the more
significant evapotranspiration of the perennial woody vegetation compared to the herbaceous plants, which
agreed with the data on the projective cover of plants and their root biomass. A decrease in the soil temperature
in the root-inhabited layer (in the diurnal variation) with the age of succession was also observed. The analysis
of the data on the field soil water content and their comparison with the results of the laboratory measuring of
the wilting points indicated that the development of plants could be restricted by a water deficit at the 20- and
45-year-old stages of the succession.

DOI: 10.1134/S1064229312030076

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