「地下の森林」は長期間劣化しないことを実証~長期気候変動対策には木材の地中利用が有効~

2025-06-23 森林総合研究所飛島建設株式会社技術研究所,ソイルウッド

森林総研などの研究グループは、軟弱地盤安定化のために80年以上前に地中に打設されたマツ丸太が、極低酸素の地中環境により劣化せず、炭素を長期に保持できることを軟X線デンシトメトリー解析で実証しました。丸太の外周部と内部の密度に顕著な差が見られなかったことから、炭素が健全に貯留されていたことを確認。この成果は、丸太を地下に「森林型」に利用することで、気候変動対策として有望であることを科学的に示すものです。既存の木材製品(製材・パネル)の半減期よりも遥かに長い炭素貯留が可能であり、今後はこの方法をカーボンストック制度へ組み込む検討が期待されます。

「地下の森林」は長期間劣化しないことを実証~長期気候変動対策には木材の地中利用が有効~
図1 丸太断面の軟X線写真
厚さ2mmの試験体に軟X線を照射して得た試験体のイメージ。密度が高い部分が白く、密度が低い部分は暗く描画されます。

<関連情報>

密度分布解析による酸素欠乏土壌に埋設された木造基礎杭の炭素吸収ポテンシャルの評価 Evaluation of the carbon sink potential of wooden foundation piles embedded in oxygen-depleted soils using density profile analysis

Ikuo Momohara,Kana Yamashita,Yuka Miyoshi,Takumi Murata & Atsunori Numata
Journal of Wood Science  Published:14 May 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s10086-025-02198-w

Abstract

Wooden foundation piles are a renewable resource that contributes to mitigating climate change because of the minimal processing requirements and remarkably long service life. Previous studies have shown that while these piles can have a long service life, the buried wood is also susceptible to bacterial activity; however, the extent to which this affects the carbon stock in wooden piles remains uncertain. This study addressed this by estimating the decrease in the mass of a pile buried in soil using the density profile, because bacterially induced deterioration was observed to initiate on the pile surface. Piles extracted from various locations in Japan were prepared as thin specimen strips. Then, these specimens were exposed to soft X-rays, and the resulting images were acquired on film. The images were analyzed to calculate the mean wood density at 0.5 cm intervals from the pile surface. The results revealed that no significant decrease in density was observed near the surface of a pile, indicating that the bacterial effect on the carbon stock was negligible when a pile was installed in waterlogged conditions. By contrast, the possibility remains that piles exposed to oxygen-depleted conditions, such as fluctuating groundwater levels, might have experienced a reduction of approximately 10% of their initial mass after 60–84 years of exposure to soil conditions. This reduction in mass is significantly lower than the 50% reduction observed in lumber after 35 years and wooden panels after 25 years; therefore, wooden foundation piles have promising potential as carbon sinks.

1304森林環境
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