Search results for " soils"

Gamma-radioactive contamination in the area of Lesisko Reserve

2004

Rainwater-induced leaching of selenium, arsenic and vanadium from Etnean volcanic soils

2009

Active volcanoes emit considerable amounts of contaminants such as As, Se and V. Mount Etna is the biggest volcano of Europe and an excellent geochemical site to study water-soil processes. Due to its volcanic activity, the rainwater has a strong compositional gradient, both in time and space. At present, the behaviour of trace elements in the soils around Mt Etna is poorly understood. To determine the influence of the rainwater pH on the potential mobilization of geogenic pollutants, batch experiments have been performed with synthetic rainwater for 25 soils collected along the flanks of the volcano. Our results show that: i) The maximum concentrations in the leaching solutions are higher …

Inhibition of denitrification and N2O emission by urine-derived benzoic and hippuric acid

2006

Abstract Hippuric acid (HA) in cattle urine acts as a natural inhibitor of soil N2O emissions. As HA concentration varies with diet, we determined critical HA levels. We also tested the hypothesis that the inhibition occurs because the HA breakdown product benzoic acid (BA) inhibits denitrification rates. During a 64-day incubation, we quantified emissions from artificial urine varying in HA, BA and glycine (Gly) concentrations, added to a sandy pasture soil. Increasing HA concentration from 0.4 to 5.6 mmol kg−1 soil significantly decreased the average N2O flux by 54%. At 3.9 mmol kg−1 soil, denitrification levels were 50% reduced for BA as compared to Gly. We conclude that HA inhibits both…

ESTIMATING SOIL PARTICLE-SIZE DISTRIBUTION FOR SICILIAN SOILS

2009

The soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is commonly used for soil classification and for estimating soil behavior. An accurate mathematical representation of the PSD is required to estimate soil hydraulic properties and to compare texture measurements from different classification systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of the Haverkamp and Parlange (HP) and Fredlund et al. (F) PSD models to fit 243 measured PSDs from a wide range of 38 005_Bagarello(547)_33 18-11-2009 11:55 Pagina 38 soil textures in Sicily and to test the effect of the number of measured particle diameters on the fitting of the theoretical PSD. For each soil textural class, the best fitting perf…

Labile nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus pools and nitrogen mineralization and immobilization rates at low temperatures in seasonally snow-covered soi…

2006

Surface mineral horizons from four ecosystems sampled in the northwestern Italian Alps were incubated at −3 and +3°C to simulate subnivial and early thaw period temperatures for a seasonally snow-covered area. The soil profiles at these sites represent extreme examples of management, grazed meadow (site M) and extensive grazing beneath larch (site L) or naturally disturbed by avalanche and colonized by alder (site A) and the expected forest climax vegetation beneath fir (site F). Changes in labile pools of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were active at all sites at both temperatures during 14 days of laboratory incubation. Ammonium was the dominant inorganic form of total dissolved N (TDN),…

Role of land set-up systems on soil (physicochemical) conditions

2020

Land reclamation and drainage networks represent one of the most ancient human modifications of the Italian soilscape, where tailored land set-up systems were developed in agro- and forestecosystems in three millennia of man’s activity. Most of once manually maintained land settings are currently scarcely working or even disappeared because of the cost needed for their maintenance and the advent of mechanization that have simplified the field organization. The scarce attention to the soil experienced in the last decades, has accelerated soil erosion and flooding events, which entailed high costs in terms of money and human lives, but also caused reduction of soil thickness, water holding ca…

The influence of industrial emissions of zinc plant on the properties of chernozem soil.

2018

East Kazakhstan is a storehouse of ore raw materials. Here the main ore-mining industrial objects are concentrated. Most of these deposits and ore deposits are characterized by polymetallic and substantially lead-zinc ore composition. When developing ore deposits, the soil-vegetation cover of the territories is disturbed, and sometimes their complete destruction occurs. On the investigated object leached and podzolized chernozems are widespread. The study of the soil cover at the territories adjacent to the zinc plant showed a negative impact of the plant's emissions on the soil and vegetation cover. Thus, where there is a major outflow from the wind rose, there are manifestations of deep e…

Resistance of solonetzic soils to rocket and space activity impact in central Kazakhstan.

2018

Introduction. This paper provides the results of a comparative analysis of physicochemical and biological characteristics of soil cover at the fall places of the first stage of “Proton" Launch vehicle (LV) in the area of Yu-2 (Central Kazakhstan). In particular, we considered the ecological stability of brown solonetzic soils in combination with Solonetz soil, to chemical pollution and variability of soil microflora to mechanical stresses during the fall of the separated parts of space launch vehicles (SLV SP). Materials and Methods. We have chosen those Kazakhstan's territories that are used by the Baikonur Cosmodrome as an impact areas of separating parts of space launch vehicles (SLV SP …

The Influence of Industrial Waste on the Magnetic Properties of Salt-Affected Soils from Two Soda Ash Manufacturing Sites

2021

The aim of this study was to characterize the impact of soda ash manufacturing on the magnetic properties of soils located in the agricultural landscape in north-central Poland. Two study sites were chosen: Mątwy (SM) and Janikowo (SJ). Highly saline soils with halophyte communities were selected in order to develop an understanding of the relationship between salinization of water–soil interface and the potential contamination risk of the environment. Basic chemical and physicochemical properties of topsoil (0–25 cm) and water (surface and groundwater) samples from five locations were characterized. The characteristics of soil contamination were based on the content of sel…

Relaciones suelo-vegetación en una toposecuencia del Escudo Guayanés, Venezuela

2014

El Escudo Guayanés es uno de los territorios más antiguos del planeta; tiene millones de años sometido a procesos de lixiviación y erosión que dejan suelos oligotróficos. El objetivo de este trabajo fue hacer la caracterización de los parámetros físicos y químicos de los suelos, en diferentes comunidades boscosas de la Reserva Forestal Imataca, e identificar ciertas relaciones entre los componentes edáficos y las especies que allí se presentan. Se realizó un inventario de todos los individuos mayores a 10cm dap (diámetro a la altura del pecho) en 15 parcelas (1ha); en cada una de esas parcelas se evaluaron cuatro sub-parcelas de sotobosque (100m²) para contabilizar todas las espermatofitas;…