Soil physical and chemical properties measured in an “ashbed” following windrow burning

Summary Some physical and chemical properties were measured in soils collected from within and outside a burned windrow formed during the conversion of eucalypt forest to pine plantation. Bulk density was lower while initial infiltration rate, electrical conductivity and pH were higher in windrow soils than in the bay soils adjacent to the windrow. The implications of these results in relation to tree growth as well as soil changes are discussed and it is suggested that increased tree growth in windrows may be partly attributed to changes in both soil physical and chemical properties following heaping and burning.