BULK DENSITY OF SURFACE SOILS AND PEAT IN THE NORTH CENTRAL UNITED STATES

Abstract

Relationships between bulk density (BD) and loss on ignition (LOI) for forest floor, shallow mineral soil (0-25 cm depth), and peat were described by exponential functions. The data were collected in forests across the North Central US. For forest floor, predicted BD, BDp = 0.073 + 2.369 exp(-0.073 LOI), R2 = 0.75, (BDp in Mg m-3 and LOI in percent dry wt), and for surface mineral soil, BDp = 0.669 + 0.941 exp(-0.240 LOI), R2 = 0.95. For peat, BDp = 0.043X + 4.258 exp(-0.047 LOI), R2 = 0.89, where X is a dummy variable with a value of 0 for surface peat (0-25 cm depth) and 1 for subsurface peat (25-175 cm).