Extension
Date of this Version
9-1976
Document Type
Article
Citation
Lewis, David T. (1976) Properties of soils in the solid set irrigation area of the Sandhills Agricultural Laboratory (Research Bulletin No. 278)
Abstract
The introduction of irrigated agriculture and the attendant increase in intensity of land use for agricultural purposes in the Sandhills region of Nebraska requires additional data regarding soils in the area. This work investigated landscape relationships and some of the morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of the soil in one irrigated valley. The soils in this valley contain greater amounts of silt and clay than do the soils on the nearby dunes. In addition, some of the valley soils contain layers of much higher clay content and corresponding cation exchange and water holding capacity than the dunal soils and irregular patterns on weathering ratios suggest that the geological materials, hence the soils, in the valleys are highly stratified. Significant amounts of potassium bearing feldspar minerals were present, but no apatite minerals were noted. Clays were largely illite, but some chlorite-like clays were noted in the soils at one site. The presence of the layers that contain a relatively high amount of clay, the abundance of potassium feldspars, and the absence of a reserve of phosphorus in these soils as well as the other chemical and physical data have significant bearing on planning agricultural practices on the land.
Comments
ISSN 0161-3841