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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #325877
Title: Digging to the top (soil)

Author
item Logsdon, Sally
item SAUER, PAT - Iowa Association Of Municipal Utilities
item Cambardella, Cynthia

Submitted to: Canadian Journal of Soil Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2017
Publication Date: 12/1/2017
Citation: Logsdon, S.D., Sauer, P., Cambardella, C.A. 2017. Digging to the top (soil). Canadian Journal of Soil Science. 97:793-795. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2017-0047.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2017-0047

Interpretive Summary: Fill dirt in urban areas is removed from one site, piled for months or years, then used as fill on other urban sites. It is important to documenting the properties of this material to best determine how to remediate soil health. This study showed that 1 1/2 to 3' of material had been put at an urban site. This fill material was a layered mixture of dark surface soil and limey lighter colored subsoil. Beneath the fill material, the original topsoil was darker and higher in organic carbon than any of the fill material, which indicated that the original soil was superior to the fill material. This information is important for urban planners who desire to improve the site after construction.

Technical Abstract: Urban construction removes soil from one site and deposits it at another site as fill material. The purpose of this study was to document characteristics of fill material 20 years after it was deposited, and determine carbon storage in fill and buried soil. The fill material, 0.5 to 0.9 m thick, consisted of alternating and partially-mixed layers of unstructured topsoil material and calcareous subsoil material over a buried structured A horizon. The buried A horizon was significantly higher in organic carbon, C, (21.3 g kg-1) than the partially-mixed topsoil material in the fill (12.4 g kg-1). The mean organic plus inorganic C in the fill material was 18.6 kg m-2, and in the buried topsoil was 11.1 kg m-2. Soil quality improvements in urban areas depend on knowledge of the material to be improved.