Monday, 7 November 2005 - 9:30 AM
101-3

Soil Organic Carbon in Macro, Meso and Microaggregates in Reclaimed Minesoils.

Manoj K. Shukla, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, New Mexico State University, MSC 3Q, P.O.Box 30003, Las Cruces, NM 88003 and Rattal Lal, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, 210 Kottman Hall, Columbus, OH 43210.

Assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential of reclaimed minesoils (RMS) is important for preserving environmental quality and increasing agronomic yields. The mechanism of physical SOC sequestration is achieved by encapsulation of SOM in spaces within macro and microaggregates. The experimental sites, owned and maintained by American Electrical Power, were characterized by distinct age chronosequences of reclaimed minesoils and were located in Guernsey, Morgan, Noble, and Muskingum Counties of Ohio. These sites were reclaimed both with and without topsoil application, and were under continuous grass or forest cover. In this report results are presented from the sites reclaimed in 2003 (R03-G), in 1973 (R73-F), in 1969 (R69-G), in 1962 (R62-G and R62-F) and in1957 (R57-F). Analysis of mean values showed that in general, WSA and MWD of aggregates increased with increasing duration since reclamation or age of reclaimed soil for all three landscape positions and two depths in sites under continuous grass. Analysis of means on C and N concentrations in aggregate fractions is underway and will be included in the abstract shortly.

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Back to The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 6-10, 2005)