Metalic tracers to determine soil movement during timber skidding on saturated soil

• Grant number: 11/18500-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Techniques and Operations in Forestry
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Torres Fenner
• Grantee: RICARDO HIDEAKI MIYAJIMA
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Understanding the relations between machinery traffic, soil damage and the effects on forests are the first steps to avoiding or minimizing the damages. The aim of this project is to develop and test methods to monitor and quantify the displacement of soil layers due to different forestry operations. Metallic tracers and a metal detector will be used to monitoring the upper soil layers' movement, until 20cm depth, correlated with traffic intensity on saturated soil. (AU)