The effect of horizontal distance from the tree stem on soil reinforcement

چکیده مقاله

It is known that presence of tree roots in soil has an important role in soil reinforcement and slope stability. However, it is not clear to what distance from the stem, trees are able to extend their root network system and the resulting soil reinforcement. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the effect of horizontal distance from the tree stem on root distribution and soil reinforcement. To achieve this aim, a profile trench method was used to study the root distribution of Fraxinus excelsior planted on a reforested hillslope at two different horizontal distances from the tree stem. The Wu/Waldron model was then used to calculate the soil reinforcement provided by the root binding actions. According to the results, root distribution and soil reinforcement were significantly higher at the horizontal distance of 50 cm from the tree stem. Also, the results showed that root distribution decreases 60.56 % and soil reinforcement decreases 57.30 % when the horizontal distance from the tree stem increased from 50 cm to 100 cm. The data presented in this study expand our knowledge in relation to the effects of horizontal distance from the tree stem on soil reinforcement to provide the required information on optimal density for a given tree species plantation to achieve the most efficient soil reinforcement by tree roots.

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