Search results for " soil"
showing 10 items of 774 documents
Quantitative comparison of initial soil erosion processes and runoff generation in Spanish and German vineyards.
2016
The aim of this study was to enable a quantitative comparison of initial soil erosion processes in European vineyards using the same methodology and equipment. The study was conducted in four viticultural areas with different characteristics (Valencia and Málaga in Spain, Ruwer-Mosel valley and Saar-Mosel valley in Germany). Old and young vineyards, with conventional and ecological planting and management systems were compared. The same portable rainfall simulator with identical rainfall intensity (40 mm h− 1) and sampling intervals (30 min of test duration, collecting the samples at 5-min-intervals) was used over a circular test plot with 0.28 m2. The results of 83 simulations have been an…
Degradation of long-chain n-alkanes in soil microcosms by two actinobacteria
2012
The ability of two recently isolated actinobacteria, that degrade medium and long chain n-alkanes in laboratory water medium, was investigated in soil microcosms using different standard soils that were artificially contaminated with n-alkanes of different length (C(12)- C(20)- C(24)- C(30)). The two strains, identified as Nocardia sp. SoB and Gordonia sp. SoCp, revealed a similar high HC degradation efficiency with an average of 75% alkane degraded after 28 days incubation. A selectivity of bacteria towards n-alkanes of different length was detected as well as a consistent effect of soil texture and other soil physical chemical characteristics on degradation. It was demonstrated the specif…
Recent Developments in Understanding Biochar’s Physical–Chemistry
2021
Biochar is a porous material obtained by biomass thermal degradation in oxygen-starved conditions. It is nowadays applied in many fields. For instance, it is used to synthesize new materials for environmental remediation, catalysis, animal feeding, adsorbent for smells, etc. In the last decades, biochar has been applied also to soils due to its beneficial effects on soil structure, pH, soil organic carbon content, and stability, and, therefore, soil fertility. In addition, this carbonaceous material shows high chemical stability. Once applied to soil it maintains its nature for centuries. Consequently, it can be considered a sink to store atmospheric carbon dioxide in soils, thereby mitigat…
A NEW VERSION OF THE USLE-MM FOR PREDICTING BARE PLOT SOIL LOSS AT THE SPARACIA (SOUTH ITALY) EXPERIMENTAL SITE
2015
Improving empirical prediction of plot soil erosion at the event temporal scale has both scientific and practical importance. In this investigation, 492 runoff and soil loss data from plots of different length, (11 < < 44 m), and steepness, s (14.9 < s < 26.0%), established at the Sparacia experimental station, in Sicily, south Italy, were used to derive a new version of USLE-MM model, by only assuming a value of one for the topographic length, L, and steepness, S, factors for = 22 m and s = 9%, respectively. An erosivity index equal to (QREI30)b1, QR and EI30 being the runoff coefficient and the event rainfall erosivity index, respectively, with b1 > 1 was found to be …
Do stones modify the spatial distribution of fire induced soil water repellency? Preliminary data
2013
Water repellency is a property of many fire-affected soils that contributes to delayed wetting rates and shows many hydrological and geomorphological consequences. Fire-induced soil water repellency (SWR) may be modulated by pre-fire soil and vegetation properties. Many studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between SWR and these properties. But, to our knowledge, no studies have considered the effect of surface stones in the spatial distribution of fire-induced SWR. In this research, we study the occurrence and spatial and vertical distribution of SWR and its consequences on soil structure after experimental burning in a previously wettable soil under different stone…
ASSESSING FAO-56 MODEL TO ESTIMATE TABLE OLIVE WATER CONSUME UNDER SOIL WATER DEFICIT CONDITIONS
2012
Agro-hydrological models can be considered an economic and simple tool to quantify crop water requirements. In the last two decades, agro-hydrological physically based models have been developed to simulate mass and energy exchange processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. Although very reliable, due to the high number of required variables, simplified models have been proposed as simple tools to quantify crop water consumes. The main aim of the paper is to assess, for a Sicilian orchard of table olive, the suitability of FAO-56 agro-hydrological model to estimate the crop transpiration under soil water deficit conditions. The model validation is carried out by means of measurements of…
Adapting FAO-56 Spreadsheet Program to estimate olive orchard transpiration fluxes under soil water stress condition
2012
Discussion of “Laboratory and field calibration of the Diviner 2000 probe in two types of soil” by J. Haberland, PhD, R. Galvez, C. Kremer, PhD, and …
2014
The authors deal with the quite interesting and actual problem of Diviner 2000 capacitance probe calibration and present some field and laboratory data obtained on two different layers (0-0.26 cm and 0.26-0.50 cm) of the same soil profile, characterized by different textural class. The importance of site-specific calibration of sensors used to monitor soil or plant water status assumes a particular relevance in semi-arid environments where the application of precision irrigation represents an appropriate management strategy aimed to achieve high values of water use efficiency (Cammalleri et al., 2013). Moreover in clay soils, physical properties are strongly influenced by soil water content…
FERTILITY DECLINE IN AN ANTRHROPOGENIC SOIL Subjected since many years to intensive viticulture.
2004
Using microtomography, image analysis and flow simulations to characterize soil surface seals
2012
Raindrops that impact on soil surface affect the pore structure and form compact soil surface seals. Damaged pore structure reduces water infiltration which can lead to increased soil erosion. We introduce here methods to characterize the properties of surface seals in a detailed manner. These methods include rainfall simulations, x-ray microtomography, image analysis and pore-scale flow simulations. Methods were tested using clay soil samples, and the results indicate that the sealing process changes several properties of the pore structure.