THE SEALING OF SOILS BY MANURE.

I. PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS

S. F. Barrington1, P. J. Jutras2, and R. S. Broughton1

'Department ofAgricultural Engineering, McGill University, P. O. Box 950, Macdonald College, Ste.Anne de Bellevue, Quebec H9X ICO; and 2USAID, do Embassade des Etats-Unis, Dakar, Senegal.

Received 2 May 1986, accepted 15 October 1986

Barrington, S. F., P. J. Jutras, and R. S. Broughton.tigations. Can. Agric. Eng. 29: 99-103.

1987. The sealing of soils by manure. I. Preliminary inves-

Infiltration rates, groundwater contamination and changes in soil profile nutrient composition were observed for fourexperimental field reservoirs filled with 10% total solids (TS) dairy manure. The results indicated poor correlation betweenmanure soil infiltration and soil saturated hydraulic conductivity with water. These findings were confirmed in thelaboratory using nine columns of four different soil textures exposed to 6% dairy manure.

INTRODUCTION

The intensification of Quebec's agriculture during the 1960s contributed to thedeterioration of the quality of surfacewaters of the southern part of the Province.Faced with this problem, the Quebec Government introduced, from 1972 to 1981,laws and bylaws aimed at curtailing thisdeterioration. Among other measures,livestock enterprises in the process ofestablishment or expansion, along withthose located within heavily polluted riverbasins, were required to store theirmanures in concrete structures. Other

materials were accepted as long as theirpermeability was of the order of that ofconcrete structures. Soils for example, hadto demonstrate a saturated hydraulic conductivity not exceeding 8.64 x 10~5m/d(10~7 cm/s). Concrete manure storagefacilities being expensive, governmentschemes to improve manure storage progressed at a slow pace. Priority was therefore given to the development ofconstruction guidelines for environmentally acceptable low-cost manure storagefacilities, such as earthen reservoirs. Suchdevelopment would provide a more favorable economic climate in which to acceler

ate environmental schemes improvingsurface water quality, by reducing pollution from manure.

The authors summarized in Table 1 have

suggested three possible sealing mechanisms: (1) physical mechanisms by whichsoil pores become clogged, (2) biologicalmechanismsthrough bacterial activity, (3)chemical mechanisms where soil clay particles deflocculate and soil structure isdestroyed through reductive processes.

The last two mechanisms were identi

fied as temperature dependent. Biologicalmechanisms rely on bacterial enzymeactivity which follow the general temperature rate relationship expressed by the

TABLE I. PREVIOUS WORKS ON THE SEALING OF SOIL BY MANURE

Infiltration rate Manure

SoilInitial Final Head Type ExperimentalAuthor (10-5 m/s) (10-" m/s) (m) texture conditions

California, U.S.A.

Hart et al. 0.9 620-30 2.2 Poultry, Sand Laboratory(1965) dairy, hog cores kept

outside

Meyer et al.(1972)

and

Oliver et al. 0.7 - 2.48 12 3.0 Screened Sand, Lagoon(1974) dairy clay loam

Davis et al. 15 60 3.0 Screened Clay loam, Lagoon(1973) dairy sand

Robinson

(1973) 1.3 35 1.0 Beef Clay loam,silty clay

Lagoon

Chang et al. 120 - 0.3 486-11 — Dairy Sand, loam, Laboratory(1974) (k)t (lOt Silty clay

New Zealand

Hills

(1976) 0.4 - 0.8 10

Nova Scotia

2.5

Canada

Dairy Sand to

clayLaboratory

Lo

(1977) 1.16 - 0.06 3.5-7.75 2.4 Diluted

dairySand to

clayLaboratory

tk refers to hydraulic conductivity value rather than an infiltration rate.

growth factor, Q'°. Chemical mechanismsrequire temperatures above 15°C duringthe soil reduction process (Mirtskhularaet al. 1972).

Nordstedt et al. (1971), Collins et al.(1975), Sewell (1978), Ciravolo et al.(1979) and Patni et al. (1981) investigatedgroundwater contamination from earthenreservoirs via seepage losses. They identified bacteria (total and fecal coliforms,fecal streptococci), ammonia, nitrates andchlorides as major contaminants. But theyalso observed that the concentration of

groundwater contaminants varied widelywith time and location for any given reservoir.

The various levels of manure infiltration

rates, as well as groundwater contamination, provided no bases for definiteguidelines for the construction of earthenstorage facilities as of 1980. At that time,authorities based their bylaws on soilhydraulic conductivity values. In Ontario,a value of 8.64 x 10~2 m/d (lO^4 cm/s)was required for the soil on site. Quebecincreased its 1975 value of 8.64 x 10-5

m/d (10 "7 cm/s) to 8.64 x 10~4 m/d(10-6 cm/s) in 1981. The U.S. state ofPennsylvania required a permeabilityvalue of 8.64 x 10'4 m/d (lO"6 cm/s)after sealing had taken place.

A research project was initiated in 1981to determine the extent of the sealing ofsoils by manure under Quebec conditions.

CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 29, NO. 2,SUMMER 1987 99

Ground LevelEmbankment

7111/11 7 ) t / / *

-N '///>}

^200 H— 450 cm ->lO0 H— Ora/n/Water 7ab/c?

Perforated Well

The resultsof this project wereto verify theQuebec norm requiring a soil hydraulicconductivity under 8.64 x 10~4 m/d(10"6 cm/s).

PROCEDURE

To investigate sealing efficiency undernatural conditions, four small manure reservoirs were built on sites of various soiltextures (Site no. 1 of clay, Site no. 2 ofloam, Site no. 3 of coarse sand and Site no.4 of 1.2 m of coarse sand over a greystructureless clay). These reservoirs werebuilt of minimum dimension to reducecosts, thus a floor dimension of 1.0 m x1.0m, but of typical hydrauliccharge, thusof 3.0 m depth (Fig. 1). Their side had aslope of 1.5:1.0 for stability, consideringespeciallythe sandysites. At the firstthreesites, the groundwater table wascontrolledbelow the bottom of the reservoir, while atthe fourth site, no such control was undertaken. This allowed the observation ofgroundwaterlevel effects. Twoof the controlled reservoirs required a peripheraldrain 0.30 m below the floor levels (sitesno. 1 and no. 2), emptying into a nearbyditch. Site no. 3 demonstrated a ground

100

Figure 1. Profile of experimental reservoirs.

water table maintained naturally some0.60 m below the reservoir floor.

These four reservoirs were filled inOctober 1981 to a depth of 2.4 m with 10%total solids (TS) liquid dairy manure. Theywere observed for infiltration rates andgroundwater contamination until November 1982. Reservoir no. 4 had to be re

plenished in May 1982.Infiltration rates were monitored reg

ularlyby measuring the levelof the surfacecrust of each reservoir, using an engineer'slevel and a bench mark established within5 m of each site. Evaporation rates andrainfall data were obtained from weatherstations located 2 km away (sites nos. 2, 3and 4) and 10 km away (site no. 1). Thisexperimental method was based on procedures used by Meyer et al. (1972), Daviset al. (1973) and Robinson (1973). Infiltration data were compared statistically usingthe method of analysis of variance.

Groundwater quality was monitoredthrough the sampling of water from a well2.8 m deep within 3 m of each reservoirand from a control unaffected by the reservoir seepages if any, thus located morethan 200 m upgrade from each site. Water

samples were tested for bacteria(total andfecal coliforms and fecal streptococci),ammonium, nitrate, phosphorous andpotassium. In November 1982, the reservoirs were emptied and their soil profileswere analyzed for pH, phosphorous,potassium and total Kjeldahl nitrogen.Core samples were taken for this purposeat two places per site on the reservoir sidewalls, 100 cm above their floor. Thesecores were taken perpendicular to the reservoir surface, at 10-cm intervals to a depthof 90 cm.

In September 1982, nine dairy manurecolumns (three of clay, three of loam, twoof sand and one of gravelly silty clay) wereset up in an unheated laboratory (Fig. 2)This second project was conducted toobtain more accurate readings on infiltration rates and groundwater pollutioi hazards. Each column held a 10-cm bigh by10-cm diameter undisturbed B Horizonsoil sample (sample dimension recommended for soil hydraulic conductivitymeasurements), exposed to a headof 1.80m of 6% TS dairy slurry. The seepages(exfiltrates) recuperated under each soilcolumn were used to measure infiltrat/on

CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 29, NO. 2,SUMMER 1987

rates. These exfiltrates were collected dur

ing the second month for nutrient and mineral analyses. The columns were observedfor 3 mo, October through December1982.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The four experimental reservoirs weremonitored for infiltration rates throughouta 12-mo period (Table II). The rates ofinfiltration were not significantly differentamong sites (confidence level exceeding95%) despite the wide variation in hydraulic conductivity values between thedifferent soil textures. However, infiltration rates were significantly lower (95%confidence level) for all sites during theperiod from 52 to 54 wk as compared tothe initial 0- to 2-wk period. Variations inreported rates of ± 21.6 x 10"4 m/d(± 2.5 x 10~7 cm/s) are due to experimental error in measuring such low infiltrations.

Only the reservoir with no groundwatercontrol, site no. 4, had to be partiallyrefilled in May 1982because of its substantial infiltration rates during the Winter of1981-1982. The reservoir being half full ofwater when filled in October 1981, it waspresumed that subsequent manure andwater separation during the winter resultedin increased seepage from the separatedlow solids layer.

The substantial difference in infiltration

rates obtained with manure as compared towater demonstrated that the sealing mechanisms were effective, even under coolNovember temperatures (less than 10°C).Because biological and chemical mechanisms are known to be temperature-dependent, physical mechanisms were presumed to dominate the sealing processeswhich had occured at all four reservoirs.

Groundwater sampling could notprovide any definite conclusions pertaining to the level of contamination producedby each reservoir,as only the 1981 Octoberand November as well as the 1982 April,May and June samples were taken. Frozenconditions from November 1981 to April1982 inclusive, and very low groundwaterlevels from July 1982 to October 1982 didnot allow for further sampling. For the fivesamples analyzed, no significant difference (95% confidence level) was foundbetween the observation wells near the res

ervoirs and the control wells. Accumulation of some odorless black matter withinthereservoirwellwasobservedfor the clay(no. 1) and the coarse sand (no. 3) sites.

The analysis of the soil profiles for allfour reservoirs demonstrated some ac

cumulation of phosphorous, potassiumand nitrogen (N-Kjeldahl, ammonium and

Pfox/g/<3s Column45mm0 x 1800 mm

3 Soil Corp lOOmmOfx 100mm

Seeled Cas/ng

F/ask

Figure 2. Laboratoryinfiltration columns using6% total solidsdairy slurry and varioussoil types.

TABLE II. SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY AND INFILTRATION RATES FOR

EXPERIMENTAL RESERVOIRS

Soil textural

Hydraulicconductivity (k)

Manure infiltration rate

0-2 wk 52-54 wkSite class (10"6 m/s) (10~9 m/s) (10~9 m/s)

1 Clay 9.25 0-14

2 Loam 3.00 10-24 (Too low tobe observed)

3 Coarse sand 30-60 24-29 0-184 Sand over clay 15 (sand) 24-29 7-23t

tMeasurements subjectto error broughtabout by rainfall interference.

CANADIANAGRICULTURALENGINEERING, VOL. 29, NO. 2, SUMMER 1987 101

TABLE III. EXPERIMENTAL RESERVOIR SOIL PROFILE ANALYSIS

Concentrations (ppm)

,Site 4

Depth Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 (sand over

Analysis (cm)

0-5

0

400

clay) (loam) (sand) clay)

P,Os 168 390 272 600 600 315 115

10-20 270 162 148 126 150 115 —102

30-40 280 — 148 135 132 110 135 82

50-60 275 — 105 — 97 145 212 67

90 — —116 130 201 114 93 71

K70 0-5 600 600 600 600 600 600 600 600

10-20 590 515 600 600 590 575 600 600

30-40 309 28 206 460 500 600 310

50-60 188 — 22 — 504 485 144 41

90 — —24 27 328 35 41 22

NH4 + 0-5 49 42 21 —

10-20 32 32 10 10

30-40 8 21 5 7

50-60 5 — 10 8

90 8 8 10 Trace

N-K 0-5 176 81 95 78 75 — 93 58

10-20 61 42 47 64 16 10 25—

30-40 22 — 8 33 5 8 22 11

50-60 22 — 5 — 11 8 5 Trace

90 — —

8 8 14 0 8 2

TABLE IV. LABORATORY COLUMNS INFILTRATION RATES

Manure infiltration

Hydraulicconductivity

rate

Column 48 h 840 d Exfiltrate

no. Soil (10-6m/s) (10-8m/s) (10-9 m/s) turbidity t

1 Sand 2.35 6.7 5.0 Heavy

2 Loam 2.27 1.3 6.0 Light

3 Clay 0.06 0.01 2.2 Clear

4 Sand 2.11 2.56 6.6 Heavy

5 Loam 3.58 1.50 7.0 Light

6 Gravellysilty clay

—

1.74 6.6 Light

7 Loam 23.0 2.55 6.5 Light

8 Clay 0.00015 0.01 2.5 Clear

9 Clay 2.12 0.0036 6.5 Light

tVisual evaluation.

TABLE V. LABORATORY COLUMNS ANALYSES OF EXFILTRATES COLLECTED DURINGTHE SECOND MONTH OF EXPERIMENTATION

Column

no.

Soil

texture

Sand

Element concentration (ppm)

TOCt Ca2 + Mg2+ K + N-K P CI

1 400 59 567 1360 430 23 167

2 Loam 62 970 412 6 25 49 233

3 Clay 87 150 156 5 10 1 100

4 Sand 350 126 524 1260 300 46 180

5 Loam 74 472 418 3 17 2 225

6 Gravelly silty clay 54 391 272 2 12 2 165

7 Loam 56 701 503 3 24 3 295

8 Clay 26 15 6 6 3 1 10

9 Clay 66 384 495 12 24 4 185

haveacquireda greycolor, indicating somegleysation.

The laboratory trial provided datawhich could be related to those of fieldwork. The measured infiltration rates aresummarized in Table IV, while Table Villustrates the quality of the exfiltrates collected. Again, the sealing of soils bymanure was successful in reducing infiltration rates to less than 8.64 x 10~4 m/d(10~6cm/s). This was true evenfor soilsofsaturated hydraulic conductivity (k) ashigh as 8.64 m/d (10"2 cm/s). A low correlation coefficient of 0.32 was establishedbetween the soil sample saturatedhydraulic conductivity values and theirmanure infiltration rates after 5 wk. Thepresence of cool ambient temperatures(less than 10°C) during this trial indicatedthatphysical sealingmechanisms played amajorrole; biologicaland chemical mechanisms were secondary, as their activity isonly significant at temperatures above15°C.

Laboratory column exfiltrate analysisshowed poor correlation between soilclaycontent and sample contaminant concentration. The color of the exfiltrateclearly indicated that the amount oforganic matter being carried through thesoil was a function of soil clay content.

Furthermore, comparison of concentrations among all three clay soil assaysleads to the probable link of soil structuresor permeability to the quantities of exfiltrated elements. Columns 9, 3 and 8, inorder of permeability, show a progressively higher cation exfiltration. By contrast, total organic carbon showed norelation to hydraulic conductivity.

tTOC = total organic carbon.

nitrates), resulting from manure infiltration. The quantities accumulated variedamong sampling locations as well asamongsites (Table III). Forsites no. 1,no.2 and no. 3, all elements had accumulatedfrom the soil surface to a depth varyingbetween 0 and 10 to 60 cm. This depthvaried directly with the elementsolubility

and site clay contents. For site no. 4, without groundwater control, elements hadaccumulated within a band some 30-60 cm deep. This band formation wasattributed to the higher infiltration rates atthis site, thus creating a displacement ofthe cation band deeper into the soil profile.All soil reservoirprofileswere observed to

CONCLUSIONS

The four experimental reservoirs alongwith the nine laboratory columns demonstrated the lack of correlation between initial soil hydraulic conductivity (k) andfinal manure soil infiltration rates. Furthermore, excellent surface sealing leading toinfiltration rates lower than 8.64 x 10~4m/d (10~6 cm/s) were obtained with soilsexhibiting initial k values in excess of0.864 m/d (10~ 3cm/s), values far exceeding those specified by the Ontario andQuebecenvironmental authorities asbeingsafe for earthen manure reservoirs.

Physical mechanisms seemed to playamajor role in the sealing process. Biological and chemical mechanisms tended tobe secondary in effect.

Soil clay content and structure werealso found to influence, to some extent, thequality of the seepage exfiltrated from theexperimental columns.

102CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 29, NO. 2, SUMMER 1987

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis research project was made possible

with funding from the Quebec Ministry ofAgriculture and the collaboration of the following farmers: Harold Merson, Gilles Quenne-ville, Alain Bergeron and Claude Quesnel.

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