A prime farmland soil in the Southern Mississippi Valley Alluvium was drastically disturbed to a depth of 3.5 m to simulate surface mining. The soil was replaced in various soil segregation treatments to study the progression of pedogenic events. Particle size distributions were functions of parent materials used to construct the soil segregation treatments. Drastic disturbance created on “open” soil structural matrix with large voids and channels that resulted in fewer gleyed colors than normal in parent materials. Between 424 to 886 d after replacement, subsidence had closed the large voids and channels, resulting in structural annealing of unlike materials. Leaching of soluble salts, cations, and labile clay declined with subsidence and structural annealing. Organic matter increased 327% in one treatment 886 d after replacement, forming an A horizon with granular structure. Drastically disturbed soils in this study exemplified dynamic systems attempting to reach equilibrium with the genetic factors acting upon them.