Impacts from Topsoil Stockpile Height on Soil Geochemical Properties in Two Mining Operations in British Columbia: Implications for Restoration Practices
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
See the document attached
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We have revised our manuscript according to your helpful comments. Please find the file as attachments.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
General comments:
The paper presents a study related to the impact of topsoil stockpile height on soil geochemical properties. This paper is well written, clearly presented. However, some complementary information must be given to improve the paper quality particularly
In our opinion and based on the results presented, this paper can be published with minor modifications.
Specific comments
- line 60: Add maps for mine site locations.
- Line 82 : use same unit (cm or m) in the text.
- Line 86: why sample were stored in -20C? what it the impact on chemical properties?
- Line 96: click or tape here to enter text. It should be deleted
- Line 132: More description and analysis of these results should be presented.
- Line 139: but not included in the principal component calculations. More explanation must be given
- Line 141: why you did not compare soil reference and the corresponding depth?
- Line 143: this figure should be separated in two figures: the first projection for the different parameters analysed and the second one for the samples projection
- Line 147: same comment as 143.
- Line 159: [19] repetition and should be deleted.
- Line 159: where is the red line?
- Line 161: why you did not use the same presentation as in the last figure?
- Line 164: [19] why in double?
- Line 212: the electrical conductivity is expressed in µS/cm and not in µS/S
- Line 214: same comment
- Line 266: citation should conform to the journal recommendation
- Line 359: delete [29]
- Line 391: upoOrganic?
Author Response
We have revised our manuscript according to your helpful comments. Please find the file as attachments.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript provides new knowledge about the potential of topsoil stockpiles to facilitate post-mining revegetation after long-term storage. The authors performed a detailed characterization and the paper is very well written, interpretations of data are well presented. Recommended for publication with very minor corrections:
Please indicate the unit of Depth in Figures 1 and 2, and provide a description of P. avail, NH4.1, and others. Some references should be revised (e.g., L. 266, L. 270, L.359) and the grammatical errors should be eliminated such as SO42 rather than SO42-.
Author Response
We have revised our manuscript according to your helpful comments. Please find the file as attachments.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I agree with all the corrections done.
