Consequently, four suburbs with different
soil profiles were selected extending from the inland to the coast along the Nerang River (Fig. 1). It was hypothesised that soil
inputs from the surrounding area would be a primary source of
particulates to road surfaces. The most common soils in the Gold
Coast region are Dermosols (known as Red and Yellow Podzolic)
and Kurosols which are mainly derived from the Neranleigh–Fernvale
meta sediments and clayey sub-soils (Noble, 1996). The four
selected suburbs; Clearview Estate, Nerang, Benowa and Surfers
Paradise lie along a 12.5 km traverse in an approximate line
extending from east to west and are equal distance apart from each
other. A total of 16 road surfaces with varying levels of traffic density
were selected, representing four road sites from each suburb
and different land uses: Clearview Estate – residential; Nerang –
industrial; Benowa – residential, industrial and commercial and
Surfers Paradise – mostly commercial.