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Tree Establishment and Growth At Pitsea Landfill Site, Essex, U.KForestry Commission Research Station, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, U.K.
Forestry Commission Research Station, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, U.K. Investigations at an 11-year-old landfill site have shown that soil moisture was positively, and soil oxygen was negatively correlated with temperature and concentration of soil methane generated by decomposition of the underlying landfill materials. A thin (0.2 m) cover of soil-forming material over the landfill showed acute oxygen deficiency and high temperatures. The high moisture content of this cover was probably caused by upward movement of water from within the landfill across a temperature gradient. Nearly all the trees of five species on the thinnest (0.2 m) cover died, but survival and growth was markedly improved on 1.5m additional clay cover over the landfill. This material prevented landfill gas contamination, and also contained sufficient plant-available soil moisture to negate the large soil moisture deficits the area experiences in most summers. The evidence presented shows that landfill sites are dynamic in the distribution of landfill temperature and gas emissions and the planning of tree planting schemes should take this into account.
Key Words: Landfills reclamation soil temperature landfill gas soil anaerobism soil water tree growth U.K.
Waste Management & Research, Vol. 9, No. 1,
35-46 (1991) |
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