TY - JOUR T1 - Factors Affecting Accumulation of Deicing Salts in Soils Around Trees JF - Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) JO - JOA SP - 196 LP - 201 DO - 10.48044/jauf.1994.035 VL - 20 IS - 3 AU - R.G. Hootman AU - P.D. Kelsey AU - R. Reid AU - K. von der Heide-Spravka Y1 - 1994/05/01 UR - http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/20/3/196.abstract N2 - Parkways, street tree planter boxes, and highway medians and roadsides are locations where soil accumulation of deicing salts is highest. Sodium chloride is the most common deicer applied in the United States. Sodium chloride and other salts accumulating in the root zone may instigate and exacerbate street tree decline. Salts affect soil aggregate stability, porosity, and water and nutrient uptake in trees. Data collected in Chicago, Illinois show much higher soil sodium (1,272 μg/g) and chloride (348 μg/g) in the center of newly installed, narrow, raised medians along Lake Shore Drive after one winter, compared to the center of wide medians along the roadway (236 μg/g sodium and 23 μg/g chloride). Proximity to high speed traffic and its associated spray and splash were reasons for this. In suburban Downers Grove, Illinois, grade level street tree planter soils had extremely high levels of sodium (1,426 μg/g to 2,277 μg/g) compared to adjacent raised planter soils. The raised planters did not receive saltladen runoff, splash, plowed snow, or direct application from salt spreaders. ER -