Abstract - Changes in Prairie Dog Mound Soil Properties with Increasing Age

White, Everett M. 1986. Changes in Prairie Dog Mound Soil Properties with Increasing Age. Final Report for Order Number PX1560-5-0117. Wind Cave National Park.

Concluding Remarks

The size of the area below a prairie dog mound that has had the original soil destroyed burrowing can be used as guide to the age of the mound. Because the burrowing could be by transient animals, the size of the area where the original soil had been disturbed cannot be used as an absolute age evaluation procedure. Corroboration of the age seems possible from a comparison of the PO4-P content of the soil surface layer in the central part of the mound in comparison to the outer part and to the soil beyond the mound perimeter. Because the mound may be used intermittently, the PO4-P in fecal and skeletal residues that are added to the mound soil is not necessarily an estimate of the total length of time since the burrow and mound were first constructed. However, it is a guide that could have its reliability increased if the PO4-P content of the soil layer from which the mound material was dug also is known.