No abstract

Fiber content and degree of decomposition are important physical and chemical peat characteristics. However, there are no internationally accepted methods for their determination. We review selected national methods that measure degree of decomposition and fiber content, and evaluate their precision and their capacity to distinguish between classes of peat. We also relate one national method to another using scaled‐variable regression equations. The von Post humification method, a European field test, was used in the identification and sample collection of 10 humification (decompositional) peat classes, from sphagnum, herbaceous, and humus peat types. Subsequent statistical analyses of the samples revealed that only eight classes were significantly different. The USSR centrifugation method successfully identified all eight classes, while the ASTM fiber method successfully identified four of the classes, the USDA fiber methods identified three, four, or five classes, and the USDA pyrophosphate method identified three of the classes. These analyses indicate that the USSR centrifugation laboratory method and the von Post humification field method separate more classes of peat with greater precision than the ASTM, several USDA fiber volume, and USDA pyrophosphate methods. However, similar tests on woody peats and tropical peats are needed to test the universal acceptability of the USSR centrifugation and the von Post humification methods. Predictive regressions between methods had R2 values from 0.690 to 0.998 and CVs form 4.8 to 45.3%. Thirty‐eight percent of the between‐method regressions are parabolic, 43% linear, and the remainder cubic.

Compared with research on mineral soils, the study of the physical properties of organic soils in the United States is relatively new. Always (1920) and Anderson et al. (1951) considered the value and reclamation of peats in Minnesota and nationally. Davis and Lucas (1959) summarized organic soil formation, utilization, and management in Michigan; however, most of the literature on the detailed physical properties of peat was published from 1956 to 2003. This is true in Europe as well (Parent and Ilnicki 2003), except for a study by von Post (1922) who developed a field method for determining

Pulp facilities which recycle office waste paper generate large amounts of waste by-products in the process of producing high-grade pulp. The paper-like residue, called de-inking residue, was evaluated for use in the revegetation of coarse taconite tailings in northeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Mineland Reclamation Rules specify that a 90 percent vegetative cover shall be established on tailings after three growing seasons; however, the 90 percent cover requirement on coarse tailings has not been consistently achieved using standard reclamation practices. Research plots were established in 1992 at the Eveleth Mines Fairlane Plant utilizing a randomized block design using five levels of de-inking residue, five levels of fertilization, and two plant mixes on 2.5-by 4.0-m plots. Lysirneters were installed to monitor changes in sub-surface water quality. Vegetative cover was measured at two sampling periods each in 1992 and 1993. Fertilization and de-inking residue amendments had significant effects on the vegetative cover of introduced and native plant species. Vegetative cover for introduced species increased from no cover to 49 percent at the end of the first growing season, to 90 percent at the end of the second growing season on tailings fertilized at the highest level and amended with residue at 22.4 kg ha· 1 • At the same fertilizer and de-inking residue rate, vegetative cover for native plants increased from no cover to 7 percent at the end of the first growing season, to 69 percent at the end of the second growing season.