Disposal of massive amounts of spent shale will be required if an oil shale industry using surface retorting is developed. Field studies were initiated in 1973 on two types of spent oil shale coarse textured and fine-textured. The objectives of these studies were to investigate surface stability of and salt movement in spent shales and spent shales covered with soil after vegetation has been established by intensive treatment and then left under natural precipitation conditions. The plots were established at low-elevation and high-elevation study sites in northwestern Colorado.