[ noun ] the layer of soil between the topsoil and bedrock <noun.substance>
Subsoil \Sub"soil`\, n. The bed, or stratum, of earth which lies immediately beneath the surface soil.
{Subsoil plow}, a plow having a share and standard but no moldboard. It follows in the furrow made by an ordinary plow, and loosens the soil to an additional depth without bringing it to the surface. --Knight.
Subsoil \Sub"soil`\, v. t. To turn up the subsoil of.
While the rainfall has washed out some fields, it has helped restore subsoil moisture that was exhausted during the 1988 drought.
But the drought's effects are still apparent in much of the land, where subsoil moisture has yet to recover.
THE SEPTEMBER rains had left enough moisture in the subsoil to allow India to produce up to 11m tonnes of oilseeds during the winter, according to government figures.
Drenching rains continued to stall field work in the parts of the nation while additional rain was needed in some other areas where subsoil moisture is still low, the Agriculture Department said Tuesday.
Some parts of Louisiana got more than an inch of rain. "We need an inch of rain every week for the next three or four weeks, just to put the moisture back into the subsoil where it should be," said cotton grower Jim Harper of Cheneyville, La.
The gravel subsoil then erodes and washes into the rivers, where it may affect the fish. But the economy needs outside money.
But subsoil dryness threatens fall plantings.
The high prices reflect fears that drought will curb harvests at a time when 96 percent of the state's topsoil is reported too dry, as is 91 percent of its subsoil.
In the Midwest, however, rains starting in mid-July replenished some of the subsoil moisture that had been lost.
"We always start looking ahead to next year, and we're not out of the woods yet, in the sense that in lots of places the subsoil moisture is not normal," said private analyst William C. Motes of Sparks Commodities Inc.
West Texas around Lubbock, however, is suffering from a subsoil deficit of between four and six inches.
The index changes little from week to week and reflects the long-term runoff, recharge and deep percolation of moisture into the subsoil.
The drought isn't over, meteorologists say; far more rainfall is needed to return the parched subsoil to normal conditions.