Soil Characteristics of 48-year-old Borrow Pits and Vehicle Tracks in Shrub Tundra along the CANOL No. 1 Pipeline Corridor, Northwest Territories, Canada

Abstract

Soil development was investigated as part of an intensive study of long-term revegetation patterns of shrub tundra on anthropogenic disturbances within a 15-km section of the CANOL pipeline corridor, N.W.T. Soil temperature, pH, percent organic matter, moisture content, and particle size composition were determined for sites in vehicle tracks and borrow pits during the summer of 1993. Elevated temperature was the most substantial difference between soils in vehicle tracks and undisturbed sites. Warmer, drier, and less acidic soils in borrow pits contained less organic matter and were more coarse textured than undisturbed soils. Low levels of organic matter on borrow pits suggest slow soil development over nearly 5 decades of primary succession. Soils were well developed on CANOL vehicle tracks, where they were moister with higher organic matter content than undisturbed soils.