Soil handling for surface mine reclamation

Excerpt

CONCERN by society and regulatory agencies over reclamation of surface mines in the semiarid western United States has put pressure on mine operators to return mined land to a productive, aesthetically pleasing condition. An important part of the reclamation process is soil preservation and replacement—the process of removing topsoil and subsoil from the land to be mined, then respreading it after mining so the land can be returned to its former use. While many operators are compelled to reclaim land as economically as possible (8), soil preservation and replacement can be costly.

Enough research on topsoil and subsoil handling on surface mines in the West has been done to offer practical procedures. But first, what is topsoil and subsoil?

Some researchers define topsoil as only that soil of the A horizon. Others use the term to refer to all solum material that will sustain plant growth. Here, we use topsoil in reference only to the A and E soil horizons of the four master soil horizons (48 Federal Register 22100, May 16, 1983). We use subsoil to refer to B horizon material, unless otherwise stated. Where the research cited does not clearly identify the genetic horizons used in …