This is a documentation of Spirit Mountain Herbal Gardens in Arizona 3/21/2008 Caliche (mineral) Caliche is a hardened deposit of calcium carbonate. This calcium carbonate cements together other materials, including gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It is found in aridisol and mollisol soil orders. Caliche occurs worldwide, generally in arid or semi-arid regions, including in central and western Australia, in the Kalahari Desert, in the High Plains of the western USA, and in the Sonoran Desert. Caliche is also known as hardpan, calcrete, kankar (in India), or duricrust. The term caliche is Spanish and is originally from the Latin calx, meaning lime. Caliche is generally light colored but can range from white to light pink to reddish-brown, depending on the impurities present. It is generally found on or near the surface, but it can be found in deeper subsoil deposits as well. The layers can vary from a few inches to feet thick, and multiple layers can exist in a single location. In northern Chile and Peru, caliche refers to the nitrate salt deposits of the Atacama Desert. Caliche can also refer to various clayey deposits in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Colombia. In addition, it has been used to describe some forms of quartzite, bauxite, kaolinite, laterite, chalcedony, opal, and soda niter. Similar material, but composed of calcium sulfate rather than calcium carbonate, is called gypcrust or gypcrete (“Gyp-Crete” is also a trademarked brand name). How it forms Caliche generally …
Tags: Digging, Dirt, holes...Caliche, Making, Rocks
I live in southest NM … I tried to till some ground. In MO, you just get a little garden tiller and in 1/2 an hour – voila! I went from a 1 hp, to a heavy-duty 5 hp to a huge garden tractor … it didn’t matter – the tines just skip across. Maddening! Wasted a whole day and $200!
its my birthday I love digging holes
I as a digger as yourself want to warn you about the ?/alites vermiculite is asbestoes be carefull , as I can see you are professional digger I myself dig and it is an honerabe occupation , be careful not many want to do this anymore .I salute you .many holes many ditches ,We are The Diggers Of This World,Now I will let you back to your work ,thanks for shareing
hard pan,glacial till?
I hate caliche!!!!!!
yes we are coming from the ground and going in the ground this is our second family and we fill it at times if we pay enough attention
if you live in a hot arid zone it will be a layer of dirt close to the surface that kills all living plants and trees if you do not do what you see
Maybe you were a professional grave digger in your past life.. If you believe in that sort of thing!?
I had never heard of Caliche before. From your flustration, I am glad I have not.
I’m digging a hole right now, to put a fence post in. The palm tree’s roots are in the way and I’ve been using an axe to chop’em up as I dig down. It is working, but slowly… Is there a quicker way??? It’s driving me nuts!!!!
it’s so weird, but so do i. it’s relaxing in a weird way.
wut da f is dis about?!
I love the sound of diggin holes!