Ground Freezing Effects on Soil Erosion of Army Training Lands Part 1: Initial Test Results

Military maneuvers damage vegetation and compact and rut soils on training lands, thereby increasing the likelihood of hillslope runoff and soil erosion. Soil Freeze-Thaw (FT) processes can change the hydraulic geometry and roughness of vehicular ruts and reduce soil compaction, which often partiall...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gatto, Lawrence W.
Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1997
Subjects:
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
*GROUND LEVEL
*FREEZING
*VEGETATION
*SOIL EROSION
MILITARY EXERCISES
THAWING
MILITARY TRAINING
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA331845
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA331845
Description
Summary:Military maneuvers damage vegetation and compact and rut soils on training lands, thereby increasing the likelihood of hillslope runoff and soil erosion. Soil Freeze-Thaw (FT) processes can change the hydraulic geometry and roughness of vehicular ruts and reduce soil compaction, which often partially restores the water infiltration rate that existed before compaction. The efficiency of these FT-induced 'repairs' depends on soil water content and FT intensity. Initial tests showed that: (1) an experimental soil bin designed and constructed for rut experiments allows acceptable simulation of field soil FT, and (2) the hydraulic geometry of a rectangular rill in a fine silt soil with an initial volumetric water content of 36% changes dramatically due to rill sideslope slumping during thaw. Future experiments will compare differences in the response of natural rills and vehicular ruts to FT-induced soil failure, and investigate the effects of FT on soil erodibility and the influences of snow cover on soil erosion processes in the spring.

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