Oil-produced water (i.e. brine) is a waste product of oil and gas extraction that can cause severe changes to soil chemistry and plant communities when discharged on the soil surface. The high concentrations of salts, dominated by sodium chloride, in brine overwhelm plants' ability to process large quantities of salt ions all at once, leading to ion toxicity and ultimately death. Brine also negatively impacts vegetation by lowering the osmotic potential in soil water, making it difficult for plant roots to extract water and essential nutrients from the soil matrix. Excess sodium ions weaken aggregate stability, impeding water infiltration and drainage. Brine spill remediation through topsoil excavation (ex situ) or chemical amendments (in situ) aim to remove or minimize the abiotic stressor to levels suitable for plant growth. The objective of this field study was to compare efficacy of these two soil treatment techniques by quantifying the remaining brine salts and plant establishment success on remediated sites. Study sites were located in the Little Missouri National Grasslands in western North Dakota. A paired-plot design was used to sample irregular brine spill sites, pairing each remediated brine spill site with a nearby reference site of similar soil texture, type, and landscape position. Field data collection consisted of vegetation composition and biomass, and soil samples (0-15, 15-30, and 30-60 cm depths) at each site. Analysis included Relative S?rensen Dissimilarity Index to measure the degree of dissimilarity of each remediated brine spill to its nearby reference site. Data from this analysis will assess efficacy in brine spill remediation techniques to determine which method is more appropriate for the environmental conditions in western North Dakota.
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