Agenda - Council - 10/14/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Both Dr. Robbins and Dr. Gilman identified stunted growth dur- ing the last year of growth on trees that were adjacent to the landfill where high concentrations of methane, high concentrations of carbon dioxide, and low concentrations of._ oxygen were measured on August 24, 1980 by the Department of Health. Trees further from the landfill by comparison did not have stunted growth during the last growing season. Pine trees should grow well on the soil in the area which is sandy; pine trees also enjoy low to medium amounts of organic matter, soil pH in the range of 5 to 6, high available phosphorous, and low to medium potassium (personal communication, Soil Testing & Laboratory, U of M) In addition to the gas migration data, soil samples were col- lected on August 24, 1980 at selected locations to further char- acterize the impact of landfill gases on red pine trees surrounding the landfill. - Soil samples were collected from areas of healthy and injured trees; two composites were sent to the University of Minnesota Soil Testing Laboratory for analysis of soil texture, pH, organic matter, potassium, and phosphorous. Additional samples were col- lected for analysis of pH, iron and manganese,..specific conductivity, and chloride by the Minnesota Department of Health Soil samples analyzed by.the U of M Soil Testing Laboratory (Table 6) show that the soil around healthy trees had a silt loam te].ture, a pH of 5.7 medium organic matter, high phosphorous and low potassium. Soil from unhealthy trees had a sandy texture, high pH, borderline phosphorous, and low potassium. Results of testing by the Minnesota Department of Health are summarized in Table 7, these results, however, are not conclusive. Future testing to identify soil differences between healthy and unhealthy trees should incorporate a more intensive sampling net- work and more completely characterize organic and inorganic parameters.