Effect of organic matter on soil properties of forest roads

Document Type : Scientific article

Authors

1 M.Sc. Student, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

4 Associate Professor, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

Abstract

Knowledge on physical and mechanical properties of soil is necessary for forest road construction and in turn for optimal forest management. Avoiding a mixture of organic matter with soil is considered as being principal in constructing forest roads which is, however, often neglected. Therefore, quantifying the consequences of such mixture can help optimizing the high economic and environmental costs associated with road constructions. The aim of this study was to assess if and how the level of organic matter affects the physical and mechanical properties of soil on forest roads. To this aim, soil samples were collected by profile excavation. Organic matter was collected from residual and litter layer of forest floor. Different mixtures of organic matter with soil were tested (0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of weight), followed by Atterberg limits and CBR tests conducted on the samples. Results showed that increasing organic matter content would increase plastic and liquid limits, which in turn increases the CBR values. Results also showed a significant negative effect of organic matter on soil engineering properties. Therefore, it necessitates a separation between the organic matter and soil during forest road construction.

Keywords

References

- Aflaki, E. 2007. Soil Mechanics Laboratory Manual. Elm-o- Sanaat University Press, 208p (In Persian).
- Alizadeh, A. 2004. Soil water-plant relationship. Foroozesh Publications, 472p (In Persian).
- ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), 1992. Natural Building Stones; Soil and Rock; Geotextiles. In: Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Volume 04.08, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, 951p.
- Bowles, J.E. 1978. Engineering Properties of Soils and Their Measurements. McGraw Hill book Company, 213p.
- Carter, M.R. 2002. Soil quality for sustainable land management: Organic matter and aggregation interactions that maintain soil functions. Agronomy Journal, 94: 38-47.
- Clayton, J.L. and Jensen, C.E. 1973. Water retention of granitic soils in the Idaho Batholith. USDA Forest Service, Research Paper, INT- 143, 20p.
- Durgin, P.B. 1980. Organic matter content of soil after logging of Fir and Redwood forests.  Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Research Note, 4p.
- Ekwue, E.I. 1990. Organic-matter effects on soil strength properties. Soil & Tillage Research, 16(3): 289-297.
- FAO, 2001. Environmentally sound road construction in mountainous terrain, applying advanced operating methods and tools (FAO forest harvesting case study 10). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 54p.
- Greenland, D.J., Rimmer, D. and Payne, D. 1975. Determination of the structural stability class of English and Welsh soils, using a water coherence test. Journal of Soil Science, 26(3): 294-303.
- Jamshidy Koohsari, A., Majnounian, B., Zahedi Amiri, G. and Hoseini, S.A. 2009. Forest soil classification to reduce costs of mechanical capability study for roadway and transportation (Case study: Agh- Mashhad Forest). Journal of the Iranian Natural Resources, 61(4): 877-888 (In Persian).
- Javid, M. 1995. Soil Mechanic Laboratory. Tehran University Jihad Press, 196p (In Persian).
- Low, A.J. 1954. The study of soil structure in the field and the laboratory. Journal of Soil Science, 5(1): 57-74.
- Lugo, A.E. and Gucinski, H. 2000. Function, effects and management of forest roads. Forest Ecology and Management, 133: 249-262.
- Majnounian, B., Jamshidy Koohsari, A., Zahedi Amiri, G. and Hoseini, S.A. 2008. Forest road soil mechanic properties in construction for practical in uses. Journal of the Iranian Natural Resources, 61(1): 123-132 (In Persian).
- Malkawi, A.I.H., Alawneh, A.S. and Abu-Safaqah, O.T. 1999. Effects of organic matter on the physical and the physicochemical properties of an illitic soil. Applied Clay Science, 14(5-6): 257-278.
- McCalla, T.M. 1942. Influence of biological products on soil structure and infiltration. Soil Science Society of America, 7: 209-214.
- Mitchell, J.K. and Soga, K. 2005. Fundamentals of soil behavior. John Wiley and Sons, 577p.
- Najafi, A., Torabi, M., Nowbakht, A.A., Moafi, M., Eslami, A. and Sotoudeh Foumani, B., 2012. Effect of forest roads on adjacent tree regeneration in a mountainous forest. Annals of Biological Research, 3(4): 1700-1703.
- Ohu, J.O., Mamman, E. and Mustapha, A.A. 2009. Impact of organic material incorporation with soil in relation to their shear strength and water properties. International Agrophysics, 23(2): 155-162.
- Puppala, A.J., Pokala, S.P., Intharasombat, N. and Williammee, R. 2007. Effect of organic matter on physical, strength, and volume change properties of compost amended expansive clay. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 133(11): 1449-1461.
- Queen, L.A., Vlaming, J.C., Arthaud, G.J. and Lime, D.W. 1997. Modeling impact of forest roads on recreation opportunities. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry, 14(4): 194-201.
- Rahimi, H. 2004. Soil mechanics. Danesh-o-Fan Publication, 622p (In Persian).
- Seyedbagheri, K.A. 1996. Idaho forestry best management practices: compilation of research on their effectiveness. Forest Service, General Technical Report INT-GTR-339, 87p.
- Smith, D.M. 1986. The Practice of Silviculture. John Wiley and Sons, 527p.
- Taskiran, T. 2010. Prediction of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of fine grained soils by AI methods. Advances in Engineering Software, 41(6): 886-892.
- Williams, R.J.B. and Cooke, G.W. 1961. Some effects of farmyard manure and of grass residues on soil structure. Journal of Soil Science, 92: 30-39.
- Wischmeier, W.H. and Mannering, J.V. 1969. Relation of soil properties to its erodibility. Soil Science Society of America, 33: 131-137.
- Yee, C.S. and Harr, R.D. 1977. Influence of soil aggregation on slope stability in the Oregon Coast Ranges. Environmental Geology, 1(6): 367- 377.
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics