Impact of mechanical site preparation on soil properties at clear-cut Norway spruce sites on mafic rocks of the Lapland Greenstone Belt

•Ploughing degraded soils at studied Norway spruce forest sites in Finnish Lapland.•CART of soil physical properties explained 90% of microsites.•CART of soil chemistry explained 74.7% of microsites.•Most important chemical variates were C, Mg, Na, Mn, Ca, Ba, Al, Fe and N.•Micromorphology of the ploughed tracks are present on LiDAR DEMs after 26 years.