Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
306823 | Soil and Tillage Research | 2006 | 19 Pages |
The high strength of some regolith types can limit the growth of rehabilitated jarrah forest following bauxite mining in southwest Australia. Ripping mine floors to a depth of 1.5 m alleviates high strength zones and improves root exploration of substrates. Understanding the variability of regolith strength at the mine pit scale may be useful for improving site-specific ripping and reducing rehabilitation costs. Regolith strength maps were developed based on real-time, field measurement of the hydraulic fluid pressure in the tilt cylinders of Komatsu 475 and Caterpillar D11R bulldozers operating at an average speed of 0.8 ms−1 with standard tip, single shank deep-ripping tines. The strength maps rank regolith into strength classes and show positions of low-, medium-, high- and extreme strength zones in the floors of former opencast bauxite mines. Maps were evaluated using strength measurements on excavated regolith profiles revealing a reliable relationship between bulldozer-mapped regolith strength and actual regolith strength. Weighted unconfined compression strength for mine floor materials within a regolith profile can be grouped as follows: saprolite <4000 kN/m2; quartz-rich, sandy clay (Zm) and silty clay (Zp) 1000–4000 kN/m2; ferruginous/gibbsitic (cemented) material (Zh) 4000–8000 kN/m2; and granite or dolerite rock and hard saprock 5000–14,000 kN/m2. Ripper hydraulic pressure was linearly related to the weighted unconfined compression strength (kN/m2) of classified regolith profiles (r2 = +0.47). The instrumented bulldozer mapping technique can partly distinguish between classified regolith types, particularly granite and granitic saprock (>75 bar) and dolerite and doleritic saprock (25–75 bar). Some regolith types including: quartz-rich, sandy clay; silty clay; and soft saprolite have low bulldozer-measured strength (25 bar) and are indistinguishable by the bulldozer. Regolith strength maps may improve the targeting of secondary contour ripping to parts of a mine floor where it is most-needed.