topsoil

A local group found the fungus that causes valley fever in samples of topsoil from the five parcels surrounding the towns where the solar panels will be built.

Measuring soil organic carbon, for example, requires digging a core to the root zone, about 30 centimeters deep to obtain a topsoil profile and until the core hits bedrock to obtain an entire soil profile.

The topsoil, comprised of the top 10 to 12 centimetres of the soil, acts as a kind of "death zone" in which fresh grass cannot survive for long.

Over two summers, a team has been busy carefully removing the thin layer of topsoil to expose the graves that were carved into the bedrock so long ago.

The tentacles are geological scars, zones where water ripped away the topsoil thousands of years ago and left behind hard basalt.