Investigating changes on some soil properties based on altitude and soil depth in forest and grassland of sacinka district in Artvin, Turkey

The study area chosen for this research is the Godrahav Watershed in Sacinka district, approximately 32 kilometers away from Artvin, located in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. In this study, the differences arisen on some physical, hydro-physical and chemical parameters of undisturbed and disturbed soils and their erodibility in areas of both the forest and the neighboring grasslands -converted from forest- within the watershed of Godrahav Stream in Sacinka district of Artvin were investigated in respect to current land use type, altitude and soil depth. For this purposes, total of 96 soil samples ? 24 samples from each altitude level (700-950 m and 950-1200 m) and each depth level (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) for each of the two land use types (forestland, grassland) were taken in order to represent the whole study area. These samples were analyzed for a total of nineteen soil parameters including texture, soil fractions, water holding capacity, permeability, soil moisture constants, bulk density, particle density, soil porosity, organic matter, pH, dispersion ratio, colloid/moisture equivalent ratio and erosion ratio. Differences and relations among these properties were statistically examined using analysis of variance and correlation analyses. It was determined that most of the soil characteristics analyzed were significantly different between land use types in the study area. In addition, soils in the study area were sensitive to erosion according to three different erodibility index.Key Words: Soil erodibility, land use types, soil physical and hydro-physical properties.