HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McSweeney, K. Articles by Dancer, W. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by McSweeney, K. Articles by Dancer, W. S. Agricola Articles by McSweeney, K. Articles by Dancer, W. S.

Subsurface Horizon Blending: An Alternative Strategy to B Horizon Replacement for the Construction of Post-Mine Soils¹

ABSTRACT

This study was initiated to evaluate various combinations of substratum and B horizon materials, as subsurface rooting media. Materials were collected from each solum and substratum horizon to a depth of about 6 m at two surface mine sites. One of the sites was in southern Illinois and had an infertile Darmstadt (Albic Natraqualf) surface soil with a strongly acid (pH 5.2) and natric subsoil. The other was in west central Illinois and had a Sable (Typic Haplaquoll) surface soil which supports high yielding grain crops with proper management.

The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using large plant containers. The test crop, soybean, was germinated in A horizon material, or in a blend of materials containing A horizon, placed over the given surface rooting medium. This procedure was employed in order to simulate field conditions where seeds germinate in topsoil and root into the underlying material. Performance of the test crop was best where A horizon was segregated and replaced over a blend of the next 3 m of material for treatments made from the Darmstadt materials from southern Illinois. It was poorest where A horizon material was replaced over material from the Darmstadt B₂ horizon. The other treatments were intermediate in performance between the A/Top 3 m and the A/B₂ (subsoil). A similar trend was found with the Sable materials from west central Illinois, but the difference between the best performing treatment, A/Top 3 m, and the poorest, A/B₂ (subsoil), was not as marked.

¹ Contribution from the Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Illinois, U-C Campus, Urbana. Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the M.S. degree at the Univ. of Illinois.

² Graduate Assistant, Associate Professor, and Research Associate, Univ. of Illinois, respectively.

Received for publication March 18, 1981. Accepted for publication March 30, 1981.