Fig. 6

The essence of Wood Vault in relation to a standard soil profile: Wood is buried in the subsoil (B-horizon) or lower horizon, completely isolated from the biologically active topsoil above. The wood is capped with clay or other low-permeability material to ensure anaerobic condition. If the original subsoil already has sufficiently low permeability, no other material needs to be imported. After enclosure, the top is backfilled with original topsoil and organic layer to allow shallow vegetation cover or other use. The semi-transparent cubic enclosure is only conceptual as the actual material and engineering methods are described in the various versions of Wood Vault.