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Articles containing the keyword 'ditches'

Category : Article

article id 4839, category Article
Erkki Timonen. (1971). Auraus- ja kaivuriojien koon ja muodon muutoksista. Silva Fennica vol. 5 no. 2 article id 4839. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14641
English title: The changes of the size and shape of ditches made by plows and tractor diggers.
Original keywords: suot; turvemaat; ojat; aura; kaivinkoneet; ojien painuminen
English keywords: draining of peatlands; ditches; plows; tractor diggers; drain digging; draining plough
Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The changed in size and shape of ditches made by draining plows and tractor diggers were followed over a one-year period after the draining in four different peatland types. The material consists of 51 ditches made with each method in dwarf-shrub pine bog, herb-rich spruce swamp, in herb-rich sedge bog and sedge pine bog. The measurements were made immediately after the digging, and one month and a year later.

Ditches made by plowing and surrounded by peat became shallower quickly during the first 2–3 days after plowing due to the pressure of the surrounding peat. Ditches made with tractor diggers did not become shallower as fast, and their bottom did not widen to the same extent than plown ditched. During the first year, machine-made ditches change in a same way as handmade ditches, especially when compared to ditches made by tractor digger.

Immediately after digging the ditches made by tractor digger were 10 cm deeper and 0.13 m3 larger than plown ditches. One year later the values were 7,5 cm and 0.09 m3, respectively. Plown ditches made in the peat were 14.4 cm deeper than ditches that penetrated into the subsoil, for tractor digger the value was 13.2 cm. Ditches made with a tractor digger were deeper than plown ditches both in soils with deep and shallow peat layer.

The changes were largest and fastest in the wettest peatland type herb-rich sedge bog. In herb-rich spruce swamps, which have a shallow peat layer, the shallower plown ditches kept their form better than ditches dug by tractor digger.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

  • Timonen, E-mail: et@mm.unknown (email)
article id 4643, category Article
Paavo Yli-Vakkuri. (1954). Aikatutkimuksia metsäojitusten kivitöistä. Silva Fennica no. 84 article id 4643. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a9105
English title: Time studies on stone work done in forest drainage.
Original keywords: ojitus; metsäojitus; työntutkimus; aikatutkimus; koneellistuminen
English keywords: forest drainage; work study; mechanization; time study; drainage of peatlands; ditches
Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

When ditches are dug in forest drainage, smaller stones are removed by hand, but the larger ones require the use of explosives or stone lifting machinery. Use of explosives have been a more common method for the larger stones. Due to development of detonation methods, it has also been used for smaller stones than earlier.

The investigation was a time study comparing five different stone lifting machines. Time needed for different stages of the work was measured. The stages lasted approximately as long for all of the machines. However, the effectivity of the machines could not be determined, because the stones removed were not similar enough. Stone lifting machine Pekka appeared slightly more effective than the other four machines. It was also easy to assemble, disassemble and move.

The article includes a summary in German.

  • Yli-Vakkuri, E-mail: py@mm.unknown (email)

Category : Article

article id 7468, category Article
Leo Heikurainen. (1957). Metsäojien syvyyden ja pintaleveyden muuttuminen sekä ojien kunnon säilyminen. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 65 no. 5 article id 7468. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7468
English title: Changes in depth and top width of forest ditches and the maintaining of their repair.
Original keywords: ojitus; metsäojitus; suot; ojat; ojien kunto; ojansyvyys
English keywords: drainage; peatlands; draining of peatlands; ditches; ditch depth; ditch repair
Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The article deals with forest ditches dug by manual labour in drained peatlands in Central and Southern Finland, ranging in age from 16 to 25 years. The ditches have been allowed to develop in a natural state. A total 1,160 of randomly selected sample plots were studied.

The results show that the originally dug ditch depth has not been the decisive factor from the viewpoint of maintaining the ditch repair. Ditches dug in thick peat layer have maintained their repair better than those dug in thin peat layer. Apparently, the influencing factor is the type of soil, to a certain extent parallel to the thickness of peat layer. In ditches dug mainly in mineral soil, the type of soil has essentially contributed to maintaining the ditch repair. Ditches in coarse-grained soils maintained a better repair than those in fine-grained soils. Also, the steeper the gradient of the ditch the better the ditch repair has been maintained. There was no relationship between the thickness of peat and the filling up of ditch bottom, because of the influence of mineral soil. Filling up of a ditch seems to be mainly due to the sinking of peat. The filling up of ditch bottom was more pronounced in clay-silt soil than in other soil types. The filling up of ditch bottom by varying gradient is due to the fact that with a small gradient the speed of water is so slow as to permit the soil particles to sink to the bottom. Another factor affecting filling up of the ditches is wetness of the peatland. Deepening of ditches happens mainly through erosion, if the gradient is large enough. The study suggests that a 50-m spacing with about 60-cm ditchc depth would be most profitable.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

  • Heikurainen, E-mail: lh@mm.unknown (email)
article id 7566, category Article
Leo Heikurainen, Kustaa Seppälä. (1973). Ojitusalueiden puuston kasvun jatkumisesta ja alueellisuudesta. Acta Forestalia Fennica no. 132 article id 7566. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7566
English title: Regional variation and continuity of stand growth in old forest drainage areas.
Original keywords: kasvu; soiden ojitus; turvekankaat; kasvun vaihtelu; ojat
English keywords: drained peatlands; peatlands; increment; ditches; variation in increment
Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The study deals with the development during the 1950s and 1960s of a stand growing on peatlands which had been drained in the 1930s. The following characters were determined by measurements: the volume of the growing stock, the volume increment, the relative increment, the increment percent and the increment curves. Moreover, the possible changes taking place in the difference between tree growth along the ditches and in the middle of the strip between ditches were studied. In addition, the regional variation in increment was studied; this question was studied as the regression between the relative growth and the temperature sum. The results were compared with other Finnish investigations into the regional variation of increment.

The volumes of the growing stock had increased during the course of twelve years by 70–10 m3 /ha depending on the site type and climatic zone concerned. The relative increment had dropped in each case studied. As a matter of fact, this is only to be expected because the volumes had increased and the absolute growth had remained more or less unchanged. The development of the increment percent was compared with mineral soil stands in the case of Southern Finland, both uncut stands and stands treated with cuttings. According to the results obtained, the development of the increment percent was better in the present material than in uncut forests, but in some cases it did not reach the level of tended stands. The revival of the tree crop after draining takes place at different rates in the vicinity of and, on the other hand, at greater distances from the ditches and that this relationship is dependent on the fertility of the site.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

  • Heikurainen, E-mail: lh@mm.unknown (email)
  • Seppälä, E-mail: ks@mm.unknown

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