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• <br />r <br />TOPSOIL: Dark - colored surface soil materials, used <br />synonymously with first lift in this bulletin. First lift <br />materials are usually removed to the depth of the first <br />easily- identified color change, and contain the soil A <br />horizon and may contain all or part of the B horizon. Cur- <br />rent North Dakota stripmine regulations base the <br />suitability of topsoil materials upon EC below 2, SAR <br />below 4 (ESP below 5), calcium carbonate equivalent <br />below 10 percent on medium and fine- textured <br />materials, and organic matter above 1.5 percent. (See <br />First Lift, Subsoil). <br />WATER - HOLDING CAPACITY: The ability of the soil (or <br />spoil material) to hold water. Water content may be ex- <br />pressed as either gravimetric water or volumetric water. <br />Gravlmetric water Is expressed as percentage of the <br />weight of water per unit weight of oven -dry soil. <br />Volumetric water can be expressed either as percentage <br />of the volume of water per unit volume of soil or as <br />depth of water per unit depth of soil (such as inches per <br />foot or centimeters per meter). <br />24 <br />Definitions in this glossary were adapted from the <br />following sources: <br />1. North Dakota Public Service Commission. Rules <br />Governing the Reclamation of Surface -Mined Land. <br />June 1983. Article 69 -05.2. Surface Coal Mining and <br />Reclamation Operations. Bismarck, ND. <br />2. Soil Science Society of America. Glossary of Soil <br />Science Terms. January, 1978. 677 S. Segoe Rd., <br />Madison, Wisconsin. <br />3. United States Department of Agriculture. Soil, the <br />Yearbook of Agriculture. 1957. Washington, D.C. <br />4. United States Salinity Laboratory Staff. Diagnosis <br />and improvement of saline and alkali soils. <br />Agricultural Handbook No. 60, February, 1954. United <br />States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. <br />