Soils data for North Dakota mined land reclamation experiments in the 1970’s using soil respreading

Authors: MERRILL, STEVE - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); Liebig, Mark

Submitted to: Ag Data Commons
Publication Type: Database / Dataset
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2023
Publication Date: 7/31/2023
Citation: Merrill, S., Liebig, M.A. 2023. Soils data for North Dakota mined land reclamation experiments in the 1970’s using soil respreading. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1529361. Accessed 2023-08-02.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1529361

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In the early 1970’s, the most feasible way to reclaim lands disturbed by coal surface mining in the northern Great Plains region was through the respreading of salvaged soil. In 1974, scientists at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, Mandan, North Dakota initiated two experiments designed to determine the thicknesses of respread soil necessary to restore productivity to difficult-to-reclaim sodic minespoils in central North Dakota. In both experiments, motorscraper and other earthmoving equipment was used to construct wedge-shaped masses of subsoil materials over leveled minespoils which were then covered with uniform thicknesses of topsoil material. Topsoil consisted of predominately A horizon material from Haplustoll soils, and subsoil consisted of B and C horizon material. Experimental treatments varied in topsoil thickness and subsoil quality. Intensive measurements of soil properties were conducted in both experiments over a period of six years. The soil properties data were collected as part of one of the first mined land reclamation experiments in North America that used respreading of salvaged soil. This data should be of interest to scientists conducting research on long-term soil change and development.