Soil Profiles from Gold Mining Sites and Undisturbed Forest in the Peruvian Amazon

Manuel Gabriel Velásquez Ramírez from the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana classified soils impacted by alluvial gold mining in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. The dataset compares soil profiles from mine spoils with those from nearby undisturbed old-growth forest, applying Soil Taxonomy (2014) and WRB (2015) systems. It was published in 2014 and contributes to understanding soil degradation and natural regeneration in Amazon ecosystems.

Use Cases

• Classifying degraded soils based on properties like acidity and cation exchange capacity mentioned in the description.
• Comparing soil fertility and productivity between impacted mine spoils and undisturbed forest soils.
• Monitoring natural soil regeneration over time based on factors like organic matter accumulation.
• Informing land reclamation and restoration strategies for Amazonian ecosystems degraded by mining.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific, high-impact region (Madre de Dios, Peru) known for biodiversity.
• Provides a direct comparison between impacted and non-impacted soil profiles.
• Applies two established international soil classification systems (Soil Taxonomy and WRB).

Limitations

• Row count and file format are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single study site in the Amazon.

Provenance

Source

Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana

Collection Method

Field research comparing soil profiles from mine spoils and undisturbed forest.

Time Range

Study published in 2014, referencing degradation over the prior twenty years.

Geography

Fortuna Community, Madre de Dios region, Peruvian Amazon.