This research project is aimed at assessing the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential of reclaimed minesoils (RMS). The experimental sites, owned and maintained by the American Electrical Power, are located in Guernsey, Morgan, Noble, and Muskingum Counties of Ohio. These sites, characterized by age chronosequences, were reclaimed with and without topsoil application and are under continuous grass or forest cover. During this quarter, water infiltration tests were performed on the soil surface in the experimental sites. Soil samples were analyzed for the soil carbon and nitrogen contents, texture, water stable aggregation, and mean weight and geometric mean diameter of aggregates. This report presents the results from two sites reclaimed during 1978 and managed under grass (Wilds) and forest (Cumberland) cover, respectively. The trees were planted in 1982 in the Cumberland site. The analyses of data on soil bulk density ({rho}{sub b}), SOC and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations and stocks were presented in the third quarter report. This report presents the data on infiltration rates, volume of transport and storage pores, available water capacity (AWC) of soil, particle size distribution, and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and coal carbon contents. The SIC content ranged from 0.04 to 1.68% in Cumberland tree site and 0.01 to 0.65% in the Wilds. The coal content assumed to be the carbon content after oven drying the sample at 350 C varied between 0.04 and 3.18% for Cumberland and 0.06 and 3.49% for Wilds. The sand, silt and clay contents showed moderate to low variability (CV < 0.16) for 0-15 and 15-30 cm depths. The volume of transmission (VTP) and storage pores (VSP) also showed moderate to high variability (CV ranged from 0.22 to 0.39 for Wilds and 0.17 to 0.36 for Cumberland). The CV for SIC was high (0.7) in Cumberland whereas that for coal content was high (0.4) in the Wilds. The steady state infiltration rates (i{sub c}) also showed high variability (CV > 0.6) and ranged from 0.01 to 0.98 cm min{sup -1} in Cumberland and 0.1 to 1.68 cm min{sup -1} in Wilds. The cumulative infiltration (I) was highly variable (CV > 0.6) and ranged from 4.2 to 110 cm in Cumberland and 17.4 to 250 cm in Wilds. The AWC for 0-15 cm depth also showed moderate variability (CV = 0.3) for Cumberland but high for Wilds (CV = 0.4). The sand and silt contents showed strong spatial dependence with nugget-sill ratio of 15 and 23%, respectively with a range of 50 m in Cumberland site. Strong spatial dependence for sand content was also obtained for Wilds. The VSP, AWC, I, clay content, VTP, and i{sub c}, showed moderate to low spatial dependence (nugget-sill ratio varied from 32 to 72% in Cumberland and 37 to 88% in Wilds). These preliminary results along with those reported earlier during the third quarter suggest that the management effects are important and indicative of these sources of variability.
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
