Laserfiche WebLink
.~ . • <br />3 <br />.:_ ,.i-,e has a mean speed of 11 miles per hour and reaches maximum speeds of <br />50 to ?~ ci'_es per hour during all months of the }-ear. The annual precipita- -.. <br />~_~.. __ _.3% inches is rather ever.Iy distributed and is considered -.arginal <br />_'.. =~_=.L-.i-~ plan[ life c:ithout supplemental irrigation. <br />_:.3 talilr.`s 52~.:~.Le 4:a5 ^~talOed teem that area Upon F:111Ch :'a riCllS UnSUC- <br />cessful stapilizatien practices had been attempted in prior years. .The analy- <br />sis c= =e sa:-ple follows: <br />Percent <br />,,~°' <br />Copper ................... 0.09 -~ <br />_--x. <br />Iron ..................... 12.1 <br />Si O~ ..................... 61.8 " <br />Al_0_ .................... i.9 <br />< .; <br />-: <br />A1g0 ...................... 2.2 <br />IC20 ...................... 4.1 .. <br />1`a_0 ..................... .3 <br />CzO ...................... 6.6 - <br />Sulfur ................... 2.4 <br />These tailings were 59 percent minus 200-mesh in size and consisted of quartz <br />and feldspar; minor amounts of biotite, muscovite, chlorite, and bentonite <br />c1a::; s-~a11 quantities of calcite, magnetite, actinolite, garnet, epidote, _~ <br />di e side, and pyrite; and sporadic grains of other minerals including chalco- <br />/ n;•rit=_, malachite, cup rite, native copper, and molybdenite. The tailings are _. <br />( slightly basic, caith pH values varying from 7.3 to i.5. At agricultural field <br />capzcit,:, moisture content averages 12.7 percent. <br />The :McGill tailings, like most mineral processing plant wastes, are <br />(1) deficient in certain plant nutrients, (2) unfavorable for plant growth due <br />to to}aural and structural properties which adversely influence soil aeration <br />and ~-Moisture, (3) include unconsolidated sands which when windblown tend to <br />sandblast or bury young plants, (4) are light in color'and reflect solar radia- <br />tion to the darker surfaces of plants thus intensifying physiological stresses, <br />ar.d (5) contain salts and heavy metal phytotoxicants that adversely affect <br />plant groc.•th. :analyses show the soluble salt content to be 0.38 percent for <br />the materiel used For the laboratory tests. Soils containing this amount of <br />salt are considered to be "moderately" salty by the Soil Conservation Service <br />of the L'. S. Department of Agriculture.3 Many agronomic crops cannot be grown <br />scccessfully on soil having a salinity value equal to that of *_hese tailings <br />- 111 of these factors were considered in attempting to devise a combina- <br />tior, chemical-vegetative procedure for stabilizing the wastes, Research was <br />cor.ductad to produce a vegetztive cover that would renew itself and provide a <br />suita_ie ha'citat for the encroachment of native plant species. Hepefullr, the <br />ste~i!izstion would stirulate a nzturzl ecological succession *_hat could <br />~Seii ;:_n•av Staff. Soil Surve;: i:anual. U. S, Deot. of .agriculture, Handbool: <br />_= 1-~1 503 po. - . <br />.?ic''.ar'=, L. ~+. (ed.). Dia_nesis ar.d Improvement of Saline and Alkali Soils. - <br />~.=. Dept. cf ~ricclture, Ha^dbook 60, 1954, 160 pp. <br />~~_, <br />- _ ±.. ..: <br />_ _ ~.. , <br />