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IITH, REDENTE, and HOOPER <br />nited States have guidelines <br />nd overburden for reclama- <br />ion that does not rate soil <br />e management of topsoil. A <br />tates understanding the per- <br />: on the role of organic mat- <br />rig levels were listed in tables <br />crest Service. The Utah De- <br />hed draft guidelines specifi- <br />elines, topsoil material rated <br />nt organic matter. Soil with <br />or unsuitable. An optimum <br />recommended for topsoil in <br />iversity Agricultural Experi- <br />ice (84), good topsoil has 1.5 <br />as 1.5 to 0.5 percent organic <br />cent. <br />t provide organic matter rec- <br />Is, include the North Dakota <br />n Service (76), Montana De- <br />lepartment of Environmental <br />ce Commission recommends <br />1) having higher organic mat - <br />De used as "first- lift" topsoil <br />psoil but with lower organic <br />ing a sandy clay loam, clay <br />ited good rather than fair if <br />:rein. In discussing important <br />ffice of Surface Mining does <br />ling Department of Environ- <br />he parameters to be evaluated <br />nt growth media. Finally, the <br />s that organic matter percent - <br />ictors for use in the universal <br />ikota Public Service Commis - <br />,ing) depths. <br />rganic matter <br />ttion and nature of soil organ- <br />. detailed literature, only high- <br />SOIL ORGANIC MATTER <br />Formation and decomposition of organic matter. Accumulation and bio- <br />logical formation of organic matter is important to the development of <br />most mineral soils. Organic matter accumulates rapidly at first, then <br />decreases with time until a constant or equilibrium level is reached (34). <br />The decay of plant and animal matter is one phase of an unending cycle in <br />which the components return to the same state again and again - (34). In the <br />soil organic matter cycle, C is transformed by decomposition from plant <br />and animal tissue to microbial tissue <br />and, through photosynthesis, Eventually, n <br />CO: is reabsorbed by growing plants <br />ed again into plant tissue (34). Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between <br />the processes involved in the formation and decomposition of soil organic <br />matter. <br />Soil organic matter is primarily humus. Humus is formed during the mi- <br />crobial decomposition or alteration of plant and animal residues (organic) <br />and products synthesized by soil organisms. Constituents are acidic sub- <br />stances of microbiological, polyphenolic, and lignin origin, with a high <br />te C �tenoio�ynt <br />o.+ Lot <br />Figure 1. Formation and decomposition of soli organic matter (4). <br />1410 Heat <br />187 <br />weatnerrnp <br />tarnoten d <br />parent materoa <br />