Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the interaction of soil properties and vegetation cover on soil loss from forest road prism. Rainfall simulations were carried out on road surface, fillslope and cutslope. Runoff and sediment samples were collected every 4 min and then total soil loss was measured. Samples from top soil were randomly collected for analysis and grouping soil into A, B and C. Results showed that on cutslope, the highest soil loss was detected for soil group B, where sediment concentration in runoff was 21.83 g L-1 and vegetation cover was 0 to 30%. On fillslope, the highest soil loss was detected for soil group C, where sediment concentration in runoff was 18.07 g L-1 and vegetation cover was 10 to 40%. On road surface, the highest soil loss was detected for soil group A, where sediment in runoff was 8.99 g L-1 and vegetation cover was 2 to 5%. Key words: Forest road, sediment, soil groups, rainfall simulation, principal component analysis (PCA).
Highlights
Soil erosion is one of the most important environmental problems which threaten soil and water resources (Cerdà, 2007)
The highest soil loss was detected for soil group B, where sediment concentration in runoff was 21.83 g L-1 and vegetation cover was 0 to 30% (Table 4)
The maximum sedimentation and soil loss from cutslope was observed in soil group B due to high moisture and low bulk density
Summary
Soil erosion is one of the most important environmental problems which threaten soil and water resources (Cerdà, 2007). Water erosion of forest soil is naturally very low and can be neglected, but after clear cutting for road construction, the bare soil is exposed to rainfall and other erosive agents (Croke et al, 2001; Foltz et al, 2009). Road erosion is found during the construction of the roads and the embankments and soil development only took place at a low rate. Under this situation the inherent sensitivity of forest soil to erosion is appeared especially on steep slopes (Jordán and Martínez-Zavala, 2008). If a forest road is planned and constructed without considering region erodibility, the engineers would be faced to high cost to solve road sedimentation problem
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