This work was carried out to evaluate soil penetration resistance (SPR) in a transversal section of the traffic trail of the tractors Feller-buncher and Skidder during wood harvesting. Geostatistic techniques were used to determine spatial dependence and kriging interpolation. Semivariogram models were fit to determine spatial dependence before traffic and after cutting and skidding. The SPR variation coefficient in the trail reduced with traffic. The result showed a moderate SPR spatial dependence in the soil section before and after cutting,with the spherical model being adjusted. The linear model was adjusted to semivariance after wood skidding, indicating the need to use a larger grid to represent the continuity of the attribute. The geostatistic methodology was found to be a good tool to estimate the values in non-sampled points and in SPR contour map building
Spatial variability; semivariograms; mechanized harvesting
