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Article: Breaking up is hard to do. (subsoil layers)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Two ARS scientists have tackled a big problem that plagues about 33 million acres of U.S. soil and large areas in other countries: how to permeate and break up dense, concretelike subsoil layers that are barriers to plant roots and farm machinery.
Called fragipans, the layers also impede water movement. Once the overlying soil becomes saturated, the water runs off, causing erosion and potentially serious sediment and surface water quality problems.
"Typically 3 to 4 feet thick and about 36 inches below the soil surface in uneroded areas, fragipan layers have been studied by soil scientists since the 1940's," says soil scientist Fred Rhoton of ARS' ...