Search results for " SOIL"
showing 10 items of 774 documents
The influence of industrial emissions from a zinc factory on the properties of Chernozem soil
2018
This article describes the influence of zinc factory emissions on soil cover and vegetation cover of the lands of East Kazakhstan. It is shown how the physical properties of water affect soil moisture. The authors consider how heavy metals destroy the composition of organic acids and how it affects the aggregate state of the soil cover.
Ecological risk assessment of agricultural soils for the definition of soil screening values: A comparison between substance-based and matrix-based a…
2017
The Italian legislation on contaminated soils does not include the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) and this deficiency has important consequences for the sustainable management of agricultural soils. The present research compares the results of two ERA procedures applied to agriculture (i) one based on the “substance-based” approach and (ii) a second based on the “matrix-based” approach. In the former the soil screening values (SVs) for individual substances were derived according to institutional foreign guidelines. In the latter, the SVs characterizing the whole-matrix were derived originally by the authors by means of experimental activity.\ud \ud \ud The results indicate that the “matr…
The cork oak in the Mountains of Palermo (Italy): ecological insights from the south-eastern edge of its distribution range
2020
Abstract: The uneven presence of the cork oak (Quercus suber L.) within its distribution range is not only determined by its climatic requirements but also by specific edaphic needs. Although most of the natural populations thrive in acidic soils deriving from metamorphic or volcanic rock outcrops, some cork oak populations are found growing in soils deriving from calcareous bedrock, which are considered less suitable. We carried out a multidisciplinary investigation at the south eastern edge of the Q. suber distribution range (Mountains of Palermo, NW Sicily), including soil, floristic, and vegetation surveys, aimed at: (i) assessing the native or introduced origin of some peculiar cork oa…
Sustainable management systems to prevent and adaptat to desertification: Case Studies from the LIFE Desert Adapt project
2021
Around 40% of the ice-free terrestrial surface is under desertification risk, and the Mediterranean is one of the most sensible regions. Concomitantly, most areas occupied by agriculture suffer from lack of organic matter in the soil, as well as very low tree cover, making them more vulnerable to climate change. The LIFE (Desert Adapt) project aims to develop a desert adaptation model to enhance resistence and resilience of farms, both public and private, to desertification by appliyng an integrative sustainable land management in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In Italy three sites in Sicily are involved, two private areas in Caltanissetta and Catagirone and the municiaplity of Lampedusa.The mo…
The ecological role of Pyrus Spinosa Forssk. in the ecosystem recovery and land restoration of Mediterranean woodlands
2021
In the Mediterranean basin, large areas still call for active reforestation, having a very low woody cover, thus resulting less resistant and resilient to climate change and suffering from a higher risk of soil degradation processes. Knowing the effects on soil fertility and carbon sequestration of single woody species can be of great practical importance, although being rarely tested. We aimed to assess the effect of Pyrus spinosa on soil fertility (soil carbon and nitrogen), microbial biomass and carbon sequestration (in aboveground stems) of Mediterranean pasturelands. The research was carried out in Ficuzza Nature Reserve (NW Sicily), where large areas are composed of extensive pasturel…
The summit part of Mount Etna revealed by High Resolution DC Electrical Resistivity Tomography coupled with complementary geophysical and soil gas te…
2016
Between 25 June and 13 July 2015 a very deep ERT profile (Pole-Dipole configuration, 40m spacingbetween electrodes and a remote electrode located at ~10km from the acquisition points) has been performedin the framework of the “MED-SUV” Project. Self-potential, soil gas concentrations (CO2, 222Rn, 220Rn, He,H2 and CH4) and soil temperature measurements were coupled to the ERT profile with a spacing of 20m(except for Rn: 40m). The NE-SW profile crossed Etnas summit craters in the middle of the 5720m ERTtotal length. Six roll along protocols of . of the dispositive (600m out of 2520m tot) have been carried outand, for the first time, a high resolution DC ERT profile reached the noticeable inve…
Life cycle environmental assessment of retaining walls in unsaturated soils
2022
Abstract Retaining structures above groundwater level support soils that are usually in a state of partial saturation and subject to the actions of atmospheric agents. The current design approach considers the possible extremes of soil conditions – either totally dry or totally saturated – but it neglects matric suction’s contribution to soil shear strength. This work aims to describe how unsaturated-soil mechanics of can positively influence the sustainability of retaining structures through a holistic, multidisciplinary, geotechnical, and environmental analysis. The geotechnical analysis allows to estimate the lateral earth pressure of a geostructure in both unsaturated and extreme soil c…
The Effects of Structure on the One Dimensional Compression Behaviour of a Porous Calcarenite
2019
Human settlements built on weak rock deposits are often characterized by instabilities or collapse that may involve the underground cavities and consequently the above buildings. Underground calcarenite quarries in Marsala have been involved in a number of collapses that have seriously damaged numerous buildings. Unfortunately proper engineering solutions have not yet been identified according to the different and special cases and to the properties of this structured material. In order to investigate structure effects on the behaviour of the porous calcarenite of Marsala, this paper presents a comparison between the one dimensional compression behaviour of the intact rock and of the same w…
Contrary motion. From countryside to city, from city to countryside
2015
Within the general strategy of the projects coordinated by Sandro Rolla and Marina Tornatora, the project of “Land” thematic pavilion is settled on the edge of Piacenza south expansion. The main idea is that, operating by meaningful fragments, the specific intervention is able to generate long term and wide-range transformations, overcrossing the specific area limits and having an effect on a territory scale. It focuses on the main issue of the peri-urban space, whose ambiguity has been at the center of contemporary architectural debate. This is approached by the design of the soil, in order to tie up areas of the city and make them the enhancement key of the future urban development. The p…
Like a Wunderkammer
2016
In the crossing between cardus and decumanus we can easily sum up the settlement of Piacenza; upon this scheme we can overlap a complexity made up of the several historical layers leading to the modern urban shape. This complexity can be seen as a sequence of limits, beyond which the urban fabric totally changes: these are the Po line, the XIX century walls, the highway. The layering of the urban core of Piacenza can be seen like an overcrossing of consecutive boundaries: pointing out these joint-areas, the project develops architectural devices to reveal unusual views and paths, throughout an unbroken ground design from south to north, using typical materials and plants. As thought in a Wu…