Stabilization is popularly employed to remediate metal-contaminated soils. It involves the absorption and precipitation of heavy metals to reduce their solubility, movement characteristics, or risk and toxicity. This study aimed to conduct a soil health assessment to determine changes in the health of metal-contaminated soil before and after the application of five stabilizers (acid mine drainage sludge (AMDS), coal mine drainage sludge (CMDS), steel slag, lime, and cement). Soil health assessment, including three soil functions, namely soil productivity, soil stability, and soil biodiversity, evaluated the physical, chemical, and biological indicators (total 16 indicators). Soil health index (SHI) of soil function was calculated by multiplying each indicator score by the weighting factor of each indicator. Total SHI was obtained by summing the three soil-function SHI. Total SHI of the stabilized and test soils followed the order as control soil (1.90) > heavy metal-contaminated soil (1.55) > CMDS-stabilized soil (1.29) > steel slag-stabilized soil (1.29) > AMDS-stabilized soil (1.26) > cement-stabilized soil (0.74) > lime-stabilized soil (0.67). Total SHI of the initial heavy metal-contaminated soil was evaluated as ‘normal’, before the stabilizer was applied; however, most of the stabilized soils became ‘bad’ after application of the stabilizers. Furthermore, soils stabilized by cement and lime showed very poor soil health. The results implied that changes in physical and chemical soil properties occurred due to the disturbance caused by the mixing of stabilizers, and ions eluted from the stabilizers could deteriorate soil health further. The findings indicated that soil treated with stabilizers is not suitable for agricultural purposes. Overall, the study suggested that stabilized soil from metal-contaminated sites should be covered with clean soil or monitored for some time before deciding its future agricultural use.

稳定化广泛用于修复受金属污染的土壤。它涉及重金属的吸收和沉淀，以降低其溶解度、运动特性或风险和毒性。本研究旨在进行土壤健康评估，以确定施用五种稳定剂（酸性矿井排水污泥（AMDS）、煤矿排水污泥（CMDS）、钢渣、石灰、和水泥）。土壤健康评价包括土壤生产力、土壤稳定性和土壤生物多样性三大土壤功能，评价物理、化学和生物指标（共16项指标）。通过将每个指标得分乘以每个指标的权重因子来计算土壤功能的土壤健康指数（SHI）。总 SHI 是通过将三个土壤功能 SHI 相加得到的。稳定土和试验土总SHI值依次为对照土（1.90）>重金属污染土（1.55）>CMDS稳定土（1.29）>钢渣稳定土（1.29）>AMDS稳定土（1.26） ) > 水泥稳定土 (0.74) > 石灰稳定土 (0.67)。在施用稳定剂之前，初始重金属污染土壤的总 SHI 被评估为“正常”；然而，大多数经过稳定处理的土壤在使用稳定剂后变得“坏”了。此外，用水泥和石灰稳定的土壤表明土壤健康状况非常差。结果表明，由于稳定​​剂混合引起的扰动，土壤物理和化学性质发生了变化，从稳定剂中洗脱出来的离子可能会进一步恶化土壤健康。研究结果表明，用稳定剂处理过的土壤不适合农业用途。总的来说，该研究表明，在决定其未来的农业用途之前，应该用干净的土壤覆盖金属污染场地的稳定土壤或监测一段时间。