Assessment of soil quality restoration in a chronically polluted area treated with compost by combining different soil investigation techniques

Land degradation processes like organic matter impoverishment, loss of biodiversity and contamination are among the main threats to soil quality. The use of organic amendments positively influences soil chemical reactions such as pollutant degradation, sorption, precipitation and complexation that play a key role in mitigation of environmental risks. The compost has been demonstrated be useful to assist natural soil remediation because enhances microbial activity, plant colonisation and development and thus promotes a restart nutrient cycling in degraded soils (Madejon et al., 2006). In this study an integrated approach, which combines chemical and microbiological investigation techniques, was developed in order to assess the soil quality restoration of a historically contaminated site after a compost treatment.