Improving land restoration in Britain by better timing of soil movements

The soil moisture content as plastic limit is shown to be a suitable threshold below which there is likely to be less compaction and damage to soil structure when soils are being moved on surface mine and quarry sites. However, in wetter parts of England and Wales use of this threshold will result in a very short stripping season for stripping upper layers of soil and, in many years, deeper subsoil layers may never dry out sufficiently to resist damage. Direct use of plastic limit to control earthmoving involves continual on-site checking of soil moisture conditions, but it is feasible to predict suitable soil conditions from a remote location using models of soil moisture deficit. Maps of long-term moisture deficit can be used to define no-go periods and optimum soil stripping seasons, while real-time use of moisture deficit data in conjunction with rainfall measurements can aid the scheduling of site operations