Metallophytes on Zn-Pb mineralised soils and mining wastes in Broken Hill, NSW, Australia
Adrian L. D. Paul A , Peter D. Erskine A and Antony van der Ent A B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
B Université de Lorraine – INRA, Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
C Corresponding author. Email: a.vanderent@uq.edu.au
Australian Journal of Botany 66(2) 124-133 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT17143
Submitted: 9 August 2017 Accepted: 6 February 2018 Published: 15 March 2018
Abstract
The wastes of metalliferous mining activities produce a substrate that is generally unfavourable for normal plant establishment and growth. However, metallophytes have evolved to grow in hostile environments that are rich in metals. They possess key properties that commend them for revegetation of mines and metal-contaminated sites. This field survey aimed to identify native metallophytes occurring on minerals wastes and mineralised outcrops in Broken Hill (New South Wales, Australia). Foliar concentrations of minerals were very high compared with non-mineralised soils but within the range expected for plants in such environments. Neither hyperaccumulators nor obligate metallophytes have been found, but they may be present on isolated mineralised outcrops in the wider Broken Hill area; however, a range of facultative metallophytes was identified in this study. These species could be introduced onto mining leases if establishment protocols for such species were developed.
Additional keywords: metal tolerance, plant conservation, rehabilitation, revegetation.
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