RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ground-penetrating Radar Accurately Locates Tree Roots in Two Soil Media Under Pavement
JF Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF)
FD International Society of Arboriculture
SP 160
OP 166
DO 10.48044/jauf.2011.021
VO 37
IS 4
A1 Bassuk, Nina
A1 Grabosky, Jason
A1 Mucciardi, Anthony
A1 Raffel, Gary
YR 2011
UL http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/37/4/160.abstract
AB This study involved locating tree roots with a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) system and then examining excavated roots in the same soil volume to compare the accuracy of the GPR system with true root location. In 2003, Acer platanoides ‘Emerald Queen’ Norway maples were planted in trenches containing two compacted soils (native silt loam and CU-Structural Soil). The trenches were paved with 10 cm of concrete. In 2008, a GPR system consisting of a 900 MHz antenna mounted on a root-scanning cart was used to conduct linear scans on top of the concrete. Immediately after scanning, the concrete was removed for selected trees and whole root systems were excavated (as an entire system attached to the tree trunk) using an air excavation tool. Regression analysis using mixed effect models showed that the radar reliably predicted root presence in both the native and structural soils. The root count correlations were r2 = 0.76 and r2 = 0.81 for the native and structural soils, respectively. In the compacted native soil under concrete, the radar output overestimated the presence of roots at the minimum detection diameter but did provide a signal associated with root presence at this detection level. In the structural soil under concrete, the radar output reliably predicted roots with only slight overestimation. This study showed that GPR data reliably predicted the presence and locations of roots under the concrete pavement in two compacted soils.