Abstract
This article details how forest soil moisture content (MC) and subsequent resistances to cone penetration (referred below as Cone Index, CI) vary by daily weather, season, topography, site and soil properties across eleven harvest blocks in northwestern New Brunswick. The MC- and CI-affecting soil variables refer to density, texture, organic matter content, coarse fragment content, and topographic position (i.e., elevation, and the seasonally affected cartographic depth-to-water (DTW) pattern). The harvest blocks were transect-sampled inside and outside their wood-forwarding tracks at varying times throughout the year. In detail, 61% of the pore-filled moisture content (MCPS) determinations inside and outside the tracks could be related to topographic position, coarse fragments, bulk density, and forest cover type specifications. In addition, 40% of the CI variations could be related to soil depth, MCPS, and block-specific cover type. Actual versus model-projected uncertainties amounted to ΔMCPS ≤ ± 15% and ΔCI ≤ ± 0.5 MPa, 8 times out of 10. Block-centered MC and CI projections were obtained through: 1) daily hydrological modelling using daily precipitation and air temperature weather-station records nearest each block, and 2) digitally mapped variations in soil properties, elevation, DTW and forest cover type, done at 10 m resolution.
Highlights
IntroductionModern forest harvesting operations including wood forwarding can lead to substantial soil compaction, rutting and displacements, rut-induced water logging and re-direction of flow patterns leading to soil erosion, operation inefficiencies, and increased wear of machinery component, especially when these operations are not properly timed
The plot-based determinations for sand, silt, and clay, OM, CF, MCPS, and cone index (CI) are summarized per block in Figure 7 by box plots and in terms of number of plots, and minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation values in Table A2 (Appendix)
The results reported below were obtained through manual soil extraction and probe insertions
Summary
Modern forest harvesting operations including wood forwarding can lead to substantial soil compaction, rutting and displacements, rut-induced water logging and re-direction of flow patterns leading to soil erosion, operation inefficiencies, and increased wear of machinery component, especially when these operations are not properly timed. Machine-induced soil compaction and associated rut-induced soil displacements commonly occur on moist to wet ground, are long-lasting, and affect the growth of remaining or planted vegetation (Cambi et al, 2015; Solgi et al, 2018). Impacts are strongest along trails with multiple wood-forwarding passes, and on wood landing sites (Jones et al, 2018). Post-harvest soils need to remain well drained with soil bulk densities at
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