Undisturbed soil cores were taken from different slope positions (upslope, backslope and footslope) and soil depths (0-15, 20-35 and 100-115 cm) in a soil catena derived from Quaternary red clay to determine the spatial changes in soil strength along the eroded slope and to evaluate an indicator to determine soil strength during compaction. Precompression stress, as an indicator of soil strength, significantly increased from topsoil layer to subsoil layer (P