Spatial distribution of soil physical properties under various forested and agricultural land use management practices

Understanding the interrelationships that exist in a soil is the key to understanding processes like, soil erosion. Notably, the severity of soil erosion will vary, depending on a number of factors. Among the most influential are soil physical and hydraulic properties and their spatial distribution. In this particular study, soil physical and hydraulic properties were characterized spatially for both agricultural and forest vegetated areas. The study site, which was located at the Winfred A. Thomas Agricultural Research Station, in Hazel Green, Alabama consisted of two blocks and each block contained four differently conditioned plots. The land use practices implemented were corn, switchgrass, sweetgum trees, and sweetgum trees with tall fescue grass as a cover crop. To examine the spatial distribution of soil properties, analyses were conducted to determine properties like, soil pH, texture, bulk density, and hydraulic conductivity for each land use practice. Interestingly, pH, bulk density, and water retention were all highest in the corn plots and lowest in the sweetgum tree plots with fescue as a cover crop. Contrastingly, the sweetgum tree plot with fescue had the lowest bulk density and the highest hydraulic conductivity.