Aspen Bibliography
Evaluation of poplar wood chips after 19 years of burial as swamp roadway fill
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Forest Products Journal
Volume
47
Issue
7-8
First Page
72
Last Page
74
Publication Date
1997
Abstract
Wood chip fill material from a highway shoulder-widening in northern Minnesota was evaluated by a variety of physical tests after 19 years of burial. Chips discolored when excavated (typical tannate oxidation reaction) and remained gray on air-drying. Chips from the shallow layer burial sites were essentially sound if collected just beneath the clay cap and approximated sound chips in moisture level, bulk density, and specific gravity, but were slightly less acidic than fresh aspen/balsam poplar. Those chips collected near the sphagnum peat base (50 cm down from clay) were somewhat soft on the surface and broke easily on bending. These chips had notably higher moisture contents at collection and lower specific gravities than those from the clay cap zone. Microscopic examination of chips noted extensive pitting and erosion of wood fiber walls and destruction of wood parenchyma (storage) cells consistent with attack by bacteria known to develop in waterlogged wood with limited oxygen available.
Recommended Citation
Schmidt, E.; Cochran, G.; Schrader, C.; and Lukanen, E., "Evaluation of poplar wood chips after 19 years of burial as swamp roadway fill" (1997). Aspen Bibliography. Paper 1396.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/1396