Word: topsoil
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...between the Red River and the weakly trickling Rio Grande, has gotten less than 10% of normal rainfall for four years; southwestern Oklahoma has gotten little more, and areas of Colorado, Kansas, Arizona and New Mexico have suffered dangerous drought. In all of them last week, not only the topsoil but the subsoil was parched deep down...
...over Chicago turned an eerie shade of yellow-brown one afternoon last week, and a menacing twilight fell over the Loop-powdery topsoil, blown in from the Great Plains, was drifting once more in the upper atmosphere. It was a fearful reminder that the flatlands of the midcontinent, which had a green and healing decade of rain in the 19405, are dry again. This spring dust storms such as have not been seen since the "black blizzards" of the 19303 are blowing in the Southwest, in western Kansas, in areas of Nebraska, Missouri, Wyoming and Colorado...
When the settlers cleared New England forests 300 years ago. the A-horizon (topsoil) that they found was only two to three inches thick (Iowa topsoil formed under permanent grass is often 18 inches thick). Below this was sterile subsoil, and when the plow mixed the two together, the blend was low in nearly everything that a good soil should have. It was not the lavish virgin soil of popular fancy...
...landing. In the drought-disaster areas, everyone knew that one rain does not break a drought, but farmers and townsfolk alike drew a deep, fresh breath and hoped. The rain was too late to help this year's crops, but in many areas it settled the blowing topsoil, helped the winter wheat and the pastures, and started the long process of replenishing the subsoil moisture...
...Indians who settled at Sheguindah, says Digger Lee, probably stayed for some 2,000 years; then, about 5,000 years ago, they pushed southeastward across Ontario. Rain and snow kept topsoil from forming on the sloping camp site, and many discarded artifacts lay on the ground last summer just as they had for 50 centuries. Archaeologist Lee gathered up every trace of man-chipped stone he could find before he went quietly away. This summer he returned with a group of students to dig deeper...