Shreerup Goswami
(Corresponding author)
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Department
of Geology, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack - 753
003, India
e-mail: goswamishreerup@gmail.com
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Publication Data
Paper received:
14
December 2010
Revised
received:
10
April 2011
Re-revised
received:
30
April 2011
Accepted:
28 May 2011
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Abstract
The present article deals with soil analysis around five
opencast coal projects of Ib river coalfield during
pre-monsoon (March), monsoon (July) and post monsoon (November) periods of
successive three years (i.e., 2006, 2007 and 2008). Sampling of soil has been
done from the vertical surface of the overburden at successive depths of 0-5
ft, 5-10 ft and at 10-15 ft. The different physical (soil texture, soil
moisture, particle density, bulk density and porosity) and chemical (pH,
organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) parameters have been analysed. The soil textures of the study area are found
to be loamy sand to loam, loam to silty loam and
clay loam to silty clay loam in the depth of 0-5
ft, 5-10 ft and at 10-15 ft, respectively. The moisture content (7.297 at
0-5ft, 5.25 at 5-10 ft and 4.134% at 10-15 ft) and porosity (43.994 at 0-5ft,
40.682 at 5-10 ft and 35.85% at 10-15 ft) of the soil in the study area
decreased gradually from the surface to greater depth. However, the particle
density (2.639 at 0-5ft, 3.11 at 5-10 ft and 3.523 g cc-1 at 10-15
ft) and the bulk density (1.478 at 0-5ft, 1.839 at 5-10 ft and 2.269 g cc-1
at 10-15 ft) in this region increased from surface to the deeper region of
the soil. The organic carbon (1.367 at 0-5ft, 0.9 at 5-10 ft and 0.396 kg ha-1
at 10-15 ft), nitrogen (2.845 at 0-5ft, 1.059 at 5-10 ft and 0.48 kg ha-1
at 10-15 ft) and phosphorus level (1.11 at 0-5ft, 0.715 at 5-10 ft and 0.679
kg ha-1 at 10-15 ft) of the soil decreased with increasing depth
of the soil. However, the content of potassium (2.636 at 0-5ft, 4.374 at 5-10
ft and 5.82 kg ha-1 at 10-15 ft) increased gradually from the
surface to the greater depth. Analysis of variance is computed to infer the
variation in the concentration of parameters in different opencast coal
projects and in various depths of the study area.
Key words
Ib river, Coalfield, Soil characterstics,
Coal mining??
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