| Creators | Kazutoki Abe; Robert R. Ziemer |
|---|---|
| Date | 1991 |
| Source type | Conference proceeding / U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report |
| Publication / holder | Proceedings of the IUFRO Technical Session on Geomorphic Hazards in Managed Forests; Pacific Southwest Research Station |
| Report | PSW-GTR-130, pp. 11–20 |
| Archive accessed | 21 September 2026 |
| Subjects | tree roots; slope stability; shallow landslides; shear strength; root distribution; fractures; biological geomorphology |
What this record is.
A modelling and field-informed treatment of tree-root reinforcement on forested slopes. It relates root amount, diameter distribution and pull-out strength to slope stability, and identifies conditions in which roots extend into joints and fractures in bedrock or into transitional material between soil and bedrock.
Why it was retained.
Retained as a useful mechanical analogue for Station landscapes where roots penetrate cracks, interfaces and accumulated material rather than merely binding a superficial soil layer. The paper also reports a temporal response: root reinforcement after afforestation rises rapidly for roughly the first twenty years and then approaches a relatively steady level. This is useful when distinguishing newly colonised damage from mature biologically coupled terrain.
The source concerns shallow terrestrial landslides and a specific modelled tree species. It supports mechanisms and vocabulary, not direct scaling to Station structures or millennial ecological histories.
Source locations
U.S. Forest Service research record →U.S. Forest Service PDF →Internal links
Referenced by: not yet assigned.
Related Archive records: 700.30:10:02 (vegetation and forested-slope stability).
Research notes / extracted claims: not yet accessioned.