Book Description

During the mining activities in the open coal mines of Ağaçlı Region, İstanbul, Turkey, top soil rich with organic material and nutrients were buried below unproductive deep soils lacking cohesive structure. An afforestation program was initiated at the areas where coal mining activities had finished. The aim of this research is to determine the effects of water erosion on a bare test area and on three other test areas where variable growth of Coastal Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) occurred. The plots that were investigated are referred to as bare test area, sparse test area, dense test area, and denser test area. As part of this study, rainfall data, soil loss due to overland flow, development of the gullies and the soil characteristics at each test areas were measured. This research spanned eight months between 1 November 2001 and 30 June 2002. Soil loss due to overland flow continued in the bare test area, but it did not occur in the sparse, dense and denser test areas primarily due to the alive and dead cover over the soil surface. The development of the gullies continued in the bare and sparse test areas. No change in the gullies of the dense and denser test areas was observed primarily due to the dense alive and dead cover. These results demonstrate the susceptibility of bare soils to excessive erosion and the effectiveness of the Coastal Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) in limiting water erosion.