Experiments were conducted to monitor nutrient dynamics in the forest floor of an upland Appalachian oak forest stands following clearcutting and whole-tree removal. Samples from the L, F, H, and A₁ layers were collected during June, August, and November of 1979 and 1980. Monthly litterfall was collected from October, 1979, through October, 1980. Soil solution samples were extracted on a biweekly basis from April, 1980, through March, 1981, and concurrent soil moisture and temperature determinations were made. All samples were collected from the clearcut area and an adjacent uncut area. Nutrient analyses included total N, P, K, Ca, and Mg, and pH, NH₄-N, and NO₃-N for the soil solutions only.

Comparisons were made between nutrient contents in the forest floor and mineral soil from the clearcut and uncut areas, between nutrient contents within forest floor layers within each area, and between nutrient contents collected over time within each area. Similar comparisons were made using litterfall nutrient contents and soil solution nutrient concentrations. Immediate clearcutting effects were most pronounced on the L layer of the forest floor, due to the logging slash input. Immediately after cutting the L layer in the cut area had a dry weight over 9,500 times that of the L layer in the uncut area. This logging slash rapidly became incorporated into the forest floor of the cut area, and after 15 months, the cut area had a forest floor slightly higher in dry weight and nutrient content than did the uncut area. Slash inputs accounted for these increases, since over the course of the study the cut area received only 14% of the litterfall that occurred in the uncut area. Soil temperature, moisture, and soil solution NH₄-N concentrations were all higher in the clearcut area. Soil solution NO₃-N concentrations were variable but generally the same in both areas. After 15 months following clearcutting and whole-tree removal, the forest floor in the clearcut area was slightly higher in dry weight and nutrient content than an adjacent uncut area, and no site degradation was noted.