Dinamika razvoja erozionih procesa na traktorskim putevima – vlakama različitog uzdužnog nagiba

Abstract

The paper investigates the phenomenon of soil erosion on skid roads/trails. The aim was to discover how and to what extent different longitudinal slopes can influence the occurrence of erosion processes. For this purpose, a total of nine experimental plots were set up at three different sites. The length of the plots was 110 m, and at all localities, the research was carried out on different longitudinal slopes (up to 10%, 10 - 20% and over 20%) over the observed period of approximately two and a half years. The research focused on determining the volume of material removed and the dynamics of the development of erosion processes observed in phases (shifts) between recordings. Forests are the most effective natural factor in protecting land from erosion, and if they are managed on the principles of sustainable management, the so-called "normal" erosion usually occurs. However, as it is necessary to build a relatively dense network of skid roads/trails for different phases of management, it makes them susceptible to more intensive erosion processes. If we take into account that they were built with very low criteria (technical elements) and without the existence of facilities that would ensure the drainage of surface and rainwater, and can be built with a large longitudinal slope, it creates optimal preconditions for the development of intensive erosion process. The conducted research has obtained results that clearly show that erosion processes occur frequently, of varying intensity depending on the factors that prevail for a given locality. The value of the volume of the removed material ranges from 1.278 m3, ie 0.0116 m3/m to 5.313 m3, or 0.0483 m3/m. The obtained minimum value of the volume of the removed material can be related to the strong water permeability of the parent substrate (limestone), which affects the reduction of surface runoff, as well as shallow soils that are formed on it. When it comes to the maximum value of the volume of removed material, which is 5.333 m3 or 0.0483 m3/m, it can be related to the continuous occurrence of surface runoff that causes surface sapping and removal of material from the skid roads/trails. The performed statistical analyzes (through a linear model) indicate different correlations of investigated influencing factors (volume of transported material and length of skid roads/trails on different longitudinal slopes). The obtained correlation values range from r = 0,29 (weak correlation) to r = 0,79 (very strong correlation).