Wetland restoration can be difficult due to the time consuming efforts it requires to evaluate the soils and vegetation within the area being considered. The objective of this study was to determine whether apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) measured via electromagnetic induction (EMI) (a non-contact method) could be used to identify soil particle size distribution, map units, and selected chemical properties at a Carolina bay wetland restoration site, Juniper Bay. Surveys of ECa were performed at Juniper Bay in December 2000, June 2001, October 2005, and December 2005 using the EM38, GEM-2, and GEM-300 in the horizontal and vertical dipole positions. Cores were dug to depths of 6.1 and 15.2 m based on an equilateral triangle grid and adequate representative sampling of soil map units. Pits were dug to 1- and 1.5-m depths. Core and pit samples were analyzed for particle size distribution and soil chemical properties. Surficial samples were collected from 0- to 15-cm and 15- to 30-cm depths; chemical properties were evaluated on these samples. Correlations of ECa with soil particle size distribution and chemical properties were determined. Linear models were derived relating soil clay content and ECa. Soil ECa was compared with soil organic C and water table depth to determine if either property could be detected using EMI. Also, ECa from different survey dates were compared to determine whether there were short-term (within a day) and long-term (months to years) temporal changes in ECa. The ECa from the initial overall December 2000 survey was strongly correlated with soil core clay content at depths from 0.61 to 1.22 m and 2.74 to 3.96 m. The reason for this is unknown. Initial overall December 2000 ECa was also strongly correlated with pit clay content. No other soil core or pit particle size analysis properties had strong significant and consistent correlations with ECa for the December 2000 survey or for any of the other surveys. Few chemical properties were correlated with ECa; however, ECa was weakly correlated with pit organic C. Results showed that ECa could not be used to delineate soil map unit, but the map unit ECa means were different. However, ECa could not detect water table depth at Juniper Bay. Soil ECa was found to be temporally variable, and ECa surveyors should be conscious of potentially varying conditions from survey to survey. Along with ground-truthing, ECa modeling could be used to estimate clay content at certain depths and locations within Juniper Bay. This could aid wetland restoration by identifying locations of aquitards, which might have been penetrated by drainage ditches. Filling the ditches in the correct places could allow restoration to progress faster and more efficiently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-04302007-204731 |
| Date | 05 July 2007 |
| Creators | Davis, Karen Melissa |
| Contributors | Dr. Rod Huffman, Dr. Jeffrey G. White, Dr. Michael J. Vepraskas |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04302007-204731/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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