Recycling urban building -site clay into sports hills, Port Adelaide BMX Track, South Australia

Description:   Imported clay-based soil, donated from building sites around Adelaide, of varying clay quality
Location:    Flat urban land as part of river park community recreation facilities in Adelaide

Values for this imported clay soil:
– Clay moulds well when wet so can build the hills and hollows
– Clay is tough, good surface for BMX as it holds its shape, when dry.

Challenges of this clay – and how it is managed
– Slippery when wet, – 1. the ‘easier’ track has a covering of dolomite to  set it like concrete for use even when wet and 2. using more difficult tracks is banned when wet
– Use may break up the surface a little into dust  – water is used to settle the dust
– Remote controlled vehicles using the track have skinny wheels which break up the track – so they are banned
– Rainwater runs off the track and may erode some of the steep slopes
– designed to flow the water down into drains as much as possible  and clay is repaired as needed.

See more
– about the Adelaide BMX tracks at https://www.facebook.com/BowerRoadBikePark
– Visit another place for mountain bike riding, – on hilly loess soils in the Silkeborg Forest, Soil Selfies from Denmark
– or visit the Warracknabeal Tractor Pull Soil Selfies from the Wimmera, Australia, where flat clays test the strength of tractors – a different type of motor sport!
– as LN post discussion

Credits : Information provided to Jeanie Clark by one of the community members who built this track.  Jeanie Clark gives permission for her photos and this information to be used under a (cc) license 2015. Editing and page created by Jeanie Clark, enviroed4all®, Warracknabeal, for use in education under a (cc) licence 2015

Return to Soil Selifes location page

page set up 31 October 2015, updated 9 January 2015