Vegetation study in support of the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Abstract

A vegetation study was conducted in Technical Area 3 at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2003 to assist in the design and optimization of vegetative soil covers for hazardous, radioactive, and mixed waste landfills at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico and Kirtland Air Force Base. The objective of the study was to obtain site-specific, vegetative input parameters for the one-dimensional code UNSAT-H and to identify suitable, diverse native plant species for use on vegetative soil covers that will persist indefinitely as a climax ecological community with little or no maintenance.The identification and selection of appropriate native plant species is critical to the proper design and long-term performance of vegetative soil covers. Major emphasis was placed on the acquisition of representative, site-specific vegetation data. Vegetative input parameters measured in the field during this study include root depth, root length density, and percent bare area. Sitespecific leaf area index was not obtained in the area because there was no suitable platform to measure leaf area during the 2003 growing season due to severe drought that has persisted in New Mexico since 1999. Regional LAI data was obtained from two unique desert biomes in New Mexico, Sevilletta Wildlife Refuge and Jornada Research Station. structure; soft, very friable; many very fine and fine roots and interstitial pores; moderately alkaline; abrupt smooth boundaries. B Horizon10 to 33 cm: Brown sandy clay loam (in the general description of the B Horizon, the Madurez Series can also be heavy sandy loam, light clay loam, heavy fine sandy loam, or light sandy clay loam); weak, coarse, sub-angular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; many very fine and fine roots and interstitial pores; moderately alkaline; clear, smooth boundaries.33 to 53 cm: Light brown heavy fine sandy loam (in the general description of the B Horizon, the Madurez Series can also be heavy sandy loam, light clay loam, heavy fine sandy loam, or light sandy clay loam); weak, coarse, sub-angular blocky structure; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; common very fine and fine roots and interstitial pores; moderately calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear, smooth boundary. C Horizon53 to 89 cm: Pink heavy sandy loam (in the general description of the C Horizon, the Madurez Series can also be sandy clay loam, light clay loam, heavy fine sandy loam or light sandy clay loam); massive; hard, friable, sticky and plastic; few very fine roots and interstitial pores; moderately calcareous; moderately alkaline; clear smooth boundary.89 to 130 cm: Pinkish gray sandy loam (in the general description of the C Horizon, the Madurez Series can also be sandy clay loam, light clay loam, heavy fine sandy loam or light sandy clay loam); massive; hard, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; strongly calcareous; moderately alkaline; gradual smooth boundaries.130 to 152 cm: Light brown sandy loam (in the general description of the C Horizon, the Madurez Series can ...

Leaf Area and Root Density Measurements for Use in Cover Performance Evaluations on Semi-Arid Reclaimed Mine Lands

“…Jackson et al (1996) indicated that 83 percent of rootmass occurred in the upper 30 cm of soil in temperate grasslands compared to 53 percent in deserts. In a study in central New Mexico, semi-arid grassland had 63 percent of the root mass in the upper 25 cm (Peace et al, 2004). Similar root distributions for arid and semi-arid grasslands throughout the world have been reported (Lee and Lauenroth, 1994;Moorhead et al, 1989;Rundel and Nobel, 1991;Schulze et al, 1996;and Sims and Singh, 1978).…”

“…The coefficients that best describe the average root density for the study area are: a = 0.700, b = 0.060, c = 0.016. The root density curve developed in this study is illustrated on Figure 3 along with curves developed at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque (Peace et al, 2004) and for agricultural crops (Ayers and Westcot, 1989). The curves for the semi-arid plant communities represent relatively higher proportions of the roots in the upper profile when compared to agricultural situations.…”

“…Figure 3. Comparison of study's RLD function with agricultural crops (Ayers and Westcot, 1989) and central New Mexico grasslands (Peace et al, 2004).…”

Upward Migration of Constituents in Soil Covers at Semi-Arid Mine Sites

“…These changes were restricted to the basal contact zone. The chemical conditions in the basal contact zone are generally deemed non-limiting for plant growth, especially considering that they occur below the primary depth of rooting for vegetation in this region (Peace et al, 2004;Romig et al, 2006). Specifically, 66 percent of the roots occur in the upper 20 cm (8 inches) and almost 90 percent occur in the upper 50 cm (20 inches) of the soils based on measurements made in both native and reclaimed sites in the project area (Romig et al, 2006).…”

Calculation set for design and optimization of vegetative soil covers Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“…In the area, the six most common perennial species by foliar coverage are black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda), threadleaf snakeweed (Gutierrezia microcephala), galleta grass (Pleuraphis jamesii), spike dropseed (Sporobolus contractus), sand sage (Artemisia filifolia), and ring muhly (Muhlenbergia torreyi) (Peace et al 2004). In aggregate, these six species account for 85% of the total foliar coverage.…”