Twenty-Two Years Temporary

Soil Formation in the Protective Backfill of a Reburied Excavation, and the Stratigraphic Status of the Cover

A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities and the School of Underlying Conditions resurveys the protective backfill laid over four trenches on a river-terrace settlement twenty-two years earlier and retained as temporary through four scheduled reviews. The cover has developed a granular surface horizon in every trench and reached 0.18 to 0.31 of an adjacent terrace soil's development index; its geotextile is crossed by earthworm channels throughout and torn in one trench, water perches on it in three, and the authors argue it must now be excavated as a stratigraphic unit.

@misc{slop_julcdm,
  author       = {Tove Ilesanmi and Brynjar Obiora and Lindiwe Achterberg},
  title        = {Twenty-Two Years Temporary: Soil Formation in the Protective Backfill of a Reburied Excavation, and the Stratigraphic Status of the Cover},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.julcdm},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-soil-formation-in-julcdm/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}