PERMFILE55696

• Permit No: C1981014
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT 09 COMPARISON OF REFUSE AND SOIL SUITABILITIES
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• waste coal have ameliorated over time. Using the WDEO suitability criteria,
all of the coal amended soils and 95 percent of the natural soils posses a
'good' suitability with respect to SAR. Due to the obvious reduction in pH
that has occurred and documented trends in the literature for elevated SAR
values to be corrected by the liberation of basic cations during the process
of acidification, it appears that the increased concentrations of Ca and Mg
and lower SAR, on the coal amended plots are a direct result of acidification
caused by the oxidization of the pyrites in the coal. Overall the coal amended
soils are of slightly higher quality than are the non coal amended soils.
SP AND TEXTURE. No differences in SP between the coal and non coal
amended soil materials were detected. These Vends are consistent wdh the
findings from North Dakota reported by Safaya et. al. (1982). The textural
differences in sand and sift content caused by the apparent addition of coal
to the soil are inconsistent with the SP results. Safaya et. al. (1982) reported
that increases in sand and decreases in silt content were associated with
slack coal amended plots. These differences were attributed to the
interference of the coal particles with the measurement of particle size. Bauer
et. al. (1976) reported that the presence of organic material in the mine soils
originating from coal altered the measurement of particle size. Given the lack
of correlation between SP and texture lt appears that the presence of waste
coal particles in the soil interferes with the calculation of texture and that
• these differences are artficial in nature. With respect to the SP values, all of
the soils possess a 'good' suitability as potential plant growth materials.
Texturally, all of the coal amended and non coal amended soil textures would
rank good' using the NMMMD Guidelines. Therefore, with respect to SP and
texture, no differences in suitability appear to exist with respect to these two
parameters due to the presence of waste coal being added to the topsoils.
BI . The addition of waste coal significantly increased the OM content of the
Southfield Mine coal amended soils. These findings are consistent with the
data collected by White et. al. (1982) wherein their data demonstrate that the
OM level of coal refuse signfcantly increased with age. Upon comparing the
OM levels of the Southfield Mine coal amended soils wlth studies conducted
in North Dakota (Bauer et. al. 1976), wherein they attempted to correlate
increases in OM content of the mine spoil with known concentrations of
lignite, it appears that the Southfield Mine coal amended soils average
approximately 10 percent waste coal but could contain as much as 20
percent waste coal.
Increased concentrations of OM as a result of waste coal being mixed into
the mine spoil were reported in North Dakota by Safaya et. al. (1982) and
Bauer et. al. (1976), and in Wyoming by Singleton and Barker (1980),
however, they questioned the biological implications of these elevated levels
of organic matter. tt has long been assumed that the organic carbon
contributed by the coal will not contribute to soil sVucture and fertility as
• much as "true organic matter' that originates from crop residues. The
implications of these elevated levels of organic matter will be discussed with
respect to n'drogen.
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