daz79darren Posted 10 July , 2004 Share Posted 10 July , 2004 In June of this year with the permission of the South African embassy and the CWGC, I undertook an environmental assessment of Delville wood, this involved testing for elements above the normal range within different depths of the soil profile. The results are extremely interesting and will be of great help to the CWGC in their future management of the wood. As anyone who who has visited the wood will know, it has a steep slope in it's north east face, I was just wondering if anyone has a 3d image of the wood which shows this quite well. It would be extremely handy for displaying the results, I wish I was competent enough to have a go with GIS but thats not the case. Any help would be most appreciated. Daz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burlington Posted 10 July , 2004 Share Posted 10 July , 2004 Is Delville managed by CWGC? I always throught that South Africa managed it as part of their Delville memorial. Or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz79darren Posted 10 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2004 Well it appears that the land is South African but it is managed by the CWGC, I suppose they are the experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 10 July , 2004 Share Posted 10 July , 2004 The South African Memorial at Delville Wood is an official CWGC memorial. The area is owned by the South African government. South Africa is a member state of CWGC and it would be natural for CWGC to care for this area considering this fact and the expertise and presence they have in the locality. The memorial's official name is The South Africa (Delville Wood) Memorial. It is one of only six CWGC memorials which do NOT bear any names of casualties. CWGC do not control the museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn311 Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Hello Daz, As a soil researcher interested in the Great War, I am obviously interested in the results of your study. Did you publish your report somewhere ? I always wondered wether it was possible to find chemical evidence of battle in the soil. I assume your study concerned the presence of metals (Fe, Cu, ... ?). Does your study include a monitoring of the groundwater ? Given the depth of the roots of trees, the effects of leaching might be the most important mechanism affecting the trees . Kind regards, Bert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz79darren Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Hi Bert, I undertook the study in June of this year, I took over 72 soil samples ranging from 5-60cm in depth. I have found evidence of warfare at all depths, Pb Cu being the most abundant elements. I will have the paper finished in September of this year and if you would like I can E-mail it to you. My first impressions are that the elements that are present are not bioavailable, the main reason being the pH of around 6 Therefore the wood can actually appear quite healthy despite having these potentially harmful elemenst present, also there is little evidence of leaching and this can be confirmed by the same quantities of elements found throughout the soil profile and the sharp distinct horizons that were observed. I never sampled any water at the time, but they may be necessary after further testing of the soil samples. Daz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn311 Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 Hi Daz, If possible, I'ld like to get a copy of your report. We're slightly going off WW1-topic, but what range of concentrations are we talking about ? Tens, hundreds mg/kg dm ? I read somewhere that some grounds in France could (or even can) only be used for the cultivation of coniferous woods, due to the presence of harmful elements (low pH, metals, ?). I never heard of something like this in Flanders. The clayey soil here will probably provide a good buffer capacity for these elements. Regards, bert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Filsell Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 What about telling us what you found in English! regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 Most interesting. It would be excellent if you could produce an everyman's version of your paper when it is finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz79darren Posted 14 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 14 July , 2004 An everymans version will come with the scientific paper, that will also be ready by september. As this report is for the CWGC I have to allow them to look over the paper first. I can not say at this point the precise concentrations of the elements, this is due to further testing to be done on the soil. I will say however that there are above averages of certain elements. The idea of planting coniferous woodland seems quite a good idea, pine needles being acidic would just make the elements more soluble and allow them to be taken up by the biomass. This technique is often used as a less destructive method of removing trace metals than the traditional way of removing the sub-soil across the effected area. Daz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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