Effects of Traffic On Soil Compaction in Sandy South Georgia Soils.

Soil compaction is one of the largest problems faced by modern mechanized agricultural and forestry operations. This makes research in the area of soil compaction critical. This study was undertaken to see how different types and levels of traffic have influenced soil compaction in sandy soils at the Valdosta State University Lake Louise field station south of Valdosta, GA. Four different traffic patterns were investigated in this study. The first area has relatively high vehicular traffic, the second more moderate vehicular traffic, and the third area a relatively low level of vehicle traffic. The fourth area has experience foot, horse, and ATV traffic, but full sized cars/vans have not been used in the area. To study compaction, soil cores of known volume have been taken at the soil surface and at 30 cm depths. These cores were taken both in the trafficked area (road, trail) and alongside the trafficked area at three locations for each treatment. Average soil bulk density values for the trafficked and untrafficked areas were statistically compared to determine the effects of traffic patterns on soil compaction. Results indicate that soils were more compacted along trafficked areas than in the corresponding untrafficked areas with the exception of the fourth area, which had experienced the lightest traffic load.