1986-11-01_PERMIT FILE - C1981008A (3)

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16 Table 2 shows the acreage distribution of these soils and the usable topsoil as computed from the laboratory data and map measurements. Of the 116 acres about 19 has already been stripped of topsoil, or is in roads and small water bodies, so does not contribute to topsoil for reclamation. However,enough good to fair quality topsoil material can be found to provide about 1.0 foot of coverage for the farmland tract or nearly 10 inches on the entire area. By cutting deeper and using lower quality material nearly 20" is available for the farm tract and over 16" for the 116 acres. Laboratory Analysis Soil samples were analyzed by the Peabody Coal Company. Stockpile samples from 10 stockpiles were analyzed also. The results of soil analysis are summarized in Table 3. The stockpile analysis are sum- marized in Table 6. These data show the dominant soil materials to be sandy clay loams and sandy loams with pH values around 7.3-7.9, with good water-holding capacity, no salt or alkali problems and no apparent danger of minor element toxicity. It appears that one soil condition that might affect growth of some plants is the presence of free calcium carbonate. Fly and Romine (1964) have shown that small grain yields are lowered by presence of CaCO3 in upper soil horizons. All soils effervesce strongly in the lower horizons and the shallow soils effervesce from the surface downward. The Peabody laboratory report shows a range of 8-59 tons CaCO3 equivalent per 1000 tons of soil material (by titration) and excess over sufate requirements of 7-56 tons/1000 tons. From this the mean percent of CaCo3 by weight in the Shawano soils is 2.6%, 2.4% and 4.7% in the A B and C horizons, respectively. The Persayo soils showed about 3.3% in all horizons. The Wyoming Department of Envi- ronmental Quality (WDEQ) and SCS quality rating guides show 0-15% CaCO3 as "good" quality for topsoiling material, (WDEQ Guideline 3, 1976; and SCS, NSH Part II-400, 1978) .