Topsoil Stripping Design
Saving Precious Topsoil With Variable Stripping
Location: Queensland, Australia
Field Area: 84 ha or 208 acres
Irrigation Method: furrow irrigation
Crops: sugarcane
Figure 1. Existing Topography.
Problem
New fields are being developed for a farm. Below is the Proposed Topography from an OptiSurface 2Way design.
Figure 2. Proposed Topography.
The design called for heavy cuts and fills in some areas. The maximum cut was 930mm (3ft) and the maximum fill was 1.750m (5.7ft). See the Cut/Fill Map below.
Figure 3. Proposed Cut/Fill Map.
The client wanted to strip more topsoil in the deeper fill areas which are located in the lower areas of the field which typically have more top soil deposited over many years. Similarly, deeper stripping was desired where the deeper cut were to occur which are typically on the higher ridge areas of the field which naturally have less topsoil.
Solution
A stripping design with variable stripping depths was defined as shown in the parameter table below.
Figure 4. Stripping Design Parameter.
This results to the Stripping Depth Map and Stripping Elevation as shown below.
Figure 5. Proposed Cut/Fill Map (left) and Stripping Cut/Fill Map (right).
Figure 6. Stripping Elevation.
Conclusion
OptiSurface Designer provides powerful tools and features to calculate a variable stripping design. This is useful for fields which have variable topsoil depth and the grower wishes to redistribute the topsoil more evenly over the field.
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