Soil recovery following landslides at Whatawhata Research Station, Waikato, New Zealand: preliminary results

Authors

  • A.M. Noyes
  • M.R. Balks
  • V.G. Moon
  • D.J. Lowe

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.16.2016.3227

Abstract

This research investigates soil recovery following landslides at the Whatawhata Research Station 20 km west of Hamilton. Six landslides were studied, ranging in age from pre-1953 to 2014. The landslides were divided into four zones: shear zones (mean of 25% of landslide area), intact accumulation zones (20%), transition zones (40%), and re-deposition zones (15%), along with a control. Soils were well-developed in the control and intact accumulation zones and least recovered in the shear and re-deposition zones. Mean A horizon depths ranged from 2 cm in the shear and re-deposition zones to 7 cm in the transition zone, 17 cm in the intact accumulation zone, and 20 cm in the control. Mean soil carbon contents were lower (P<0.05) in the landslide zones (range of 3.2-5.2%) than in controls (8.2%). Older landslides showed greater recovery, however, the differences between zones within the landslides were greater than the differences between landslides. Keywords: mass movement, soil carbon, hill country

Downloads

Published

2016-01-01

How to Cite

Noyes, A., Balks, M., Moon, V., & Lowe, D. (2016). Soil recovery following landslides at Whatawhata Research Station, Waikato, New Zealand: preliminary results. NZGA: Research and Practice Series, 16, 179–184. https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.16.2016.3227

Issue

Vol. 16 (2016): Hill Country Symposium

Section

Past volumes

License

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Rights granted to the New Zealand Grassland Association through this agreement are non-exclusive. You are free to publish the work(s) elsewhere and no ownership is assumed by the NZGA when storing or curating an electronic version of the work(s). The author(s) will receive no monetary return from the Association for the use of material contained in the manuscript. If I am one of several co-authors, I hereby confirm that I am authorized by my co-authors to grant this Licence as their agent on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes the rights to supply the article in electronic and online forms and systems.