PERMFILE57707

• Permit No: C1981010
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 3/10/1988
• Doc Name: REGRADED SPOIL SAMPLING
• Section_Exhibit Name: Appendix W 1987 Report Section 4.0
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Section 4 cont.
page 4
Percent Silt - This is the percent of the soil material consisting of
particles between .OS-.002 mm in diameter. Trapper spoils ranged
from 15X to 50X (z = 29.5X).
Percent Clay - This is the percent of the soil material that consists of
particles smaller than .002 ~n in diameter. Soils containing >40X
clay particles when associated with high SAH values (>10) and
extreme saturation percentages (>80) may be considered suspect
(Merritt 1983). Trapper spoil clay content ranged from a low of 18%
to a high of 50% (x = 36.5%).
Texture - The relative percentage of sand, ail[ and clay in soil material
that is less than 2 mm in diameter. Merritt (1983) reported a vari-
ety of suitability classifications for Boils. In accordance with
his suitability criteria, Trapper spoils ranged from poor to good
(z = fair).
Mercury - Mercury is not a common parameter of concern in soils and over-
burden evaluation for mined land reclamation, however it may be of
interest in some circumstances. Much of western North America is in
a mercuirferous zone that contains numerous Hg deposits and pros-
pects. Total Hg concentration commonly reported for soils, sedi-
ments, and geologic deposits are less than .1 ppm (Williams S
Funston 1987). Merritt (1983) reported concentrations of .4 to .5
ppm to be suspect. Trapper spoils range from .OS to .1 ppm (z =
.06).
Fluorine - Fluorine is a non-metalic element. The range of fluorine con-
centration in soils which sometimes occur as environmental contami-
nants is between 30-300 ppm (Brady 1974). Fluorine concentatione in
Trapper spoils ranged from .12 to 1.3 ppm (x .26).
Total Sulfur - Total sulfur measures the oxidation potential of pyrite in
spoils to accurately quantify [heir acid producing potential. Oxi-
dation of pyrite is the main source of acidity in most mine spoils
(Sobek etal 1987). The percent total sulfur on Trapper spoils is
very low and ranged from <.O1 to .35% (z = .10).
Acid-base potential - A method to quantifying the net acid-base balance
of a particular spoil material by combining the acid and neutraliza-
tion potentials. Calcium carbonate is the acid neutralizing com-
pound in spoils which tends to ameliorate its acid producing poten-
tial. Positive (+) laboratory values ,reflect an excess of CaC03
to neutralize any acid producing potential. Trapper spoils ranged
from +13.9 to +88.7 (z = 51.4).
A comparison of topsoil and in-place spoil material is made in Table 4-3.
As you can see the quality of the regraded spoil is comparable to that of
the in-place topsoil.
cont.