Search results for "SOIL ORGANIC MATTER"
showing 10 items of 186 documents
Moving Ahead from Assessments to Actions by Using Harmonized Risk Assessment Methodologies for Soil Degradation
2010
Almost all developed countries use risk assessment methodologies (RAMs) for the evaluation of risks related to soil degradation, viz. soil organic matter decline, erosion, landslides, salinization and/or compaction. However and for various reasons, seldom the use of such RAMs seldom results in actual measures to combat soil degradation in practice. In this study the current status of RAMs in EU-27 was evaluated and factors hampering the implementation of action plans were explored. To do so we used a so-called risk assessment chain, which describes the five successive steps of any risk assessment for soil threats viz., (1) notion of the threat, (2) data collection, (3) data processing, (4) …
THE IMPACT OF FIRE ON REDISTRIBUTION OF SOIL ORGANIC MATTER ON A MEDITERRANEAN HILLSLOPE UNDER MAQUIA VEGETATION TYPE
2010
Soil organic matter (SOM) changes affect the CO2 atmospheric levels and is a key factor on soil fertility and soil erodibility. Fire affects ecosystems and the soil properties due to heating and post-fire soil erosion and degradation processes. In order to understand fire effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) balance research was undertaken on a fire-prone ecosystem: the Mediterranean maquia. The spatial distribution of SOC was measured in a Burnt site 6 months after a wildfire and in a Control site. Samples were collected at two different depths (0–3 and 3–10 cm) and SOC was determined. The results show that 41·8 per cent of the SOC stock was lost. This is due to the removal of the burnt ma…
SW—Soil and Water
2000
Abstract Recent research has directed attention to the properties of the eroded material because of its influence in deposition phenomena and in carrying capacity of pollutant materials. In this paper, the spatial distribution of the content of nitrogen, phosphorus and total organic carbon is firstly deduced using the measurements carried out in 129 soil samples well distributed over the Sicilian Sparacia Basin and a Kriging interpolation method. Then the load of each chemical was calculated at morphological unit and basin scale using the above-mentioned spatial distributions and sediment yield values calculated by a parametric approach such as the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSL…
Estimating the USLE soil erodibility factor in Sicily, South Italy
2012
The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is used by professionals and technicians to predict soil loss by water erosion and to establish soil conservation measures. One of the key elements of the USLE is the K factor, which is a measure of the soil erodibility. Given the difficulty in collecting sufficient data to adequately measure K, early in the USLE's history the soil erodibility nomograph method was developed to allow estimation of K based on standard soil properties. Since the nomograph approach was developed based on a small number of soils in the United States, it is necessary for other contexts to check the nomograph's ability to predict the soil's true erodibility. Considering that…
Distribution of soil organic carbon in Wadi Al-Thulaima, Saudi Arabia: A hyper-arid habitat altered by wastewater reuse
2018
The carbon cycle is being altered as a result of human-induced changes in the Earth's system. Therefore, ecosystems such as wetlands, authentic CO2 sinks, are becoming especially important. Little information exits on the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock for the middle east-countries man-made wetlands making wadis permanent with the outflow of wastewater treatment plants. This paper presents the vertical distribution of SOC content, soil bulk density (SBD) and SOC density in soil of vegetated and bare sites in Wadi Al-Thulaima, one of the artificial wetlands in central Saudi Arabia. The mean distribution of SBD in the vegetated and bare sites increased significantly with depth. Inversely, th…
δ pattern of dissolved inorganic carbon in a small granitic catchment: the Strengbach case study (Vosges mountains, France)
1999
Abstract The transfers and origins of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were studied for a year in a soil–spring–stream system in the Strengbach catchment, Vosges mountains, France. This 80 ha experimental research basin is located on the eastern side of the mountains, at an altitude ranging from 883 to 1146 m.a.s.l. and is mainly covered by spruce (80%). Brown acid and podzolic soils developed on a granitic basement, and, as a result, the DIC originates solely from CO2 generated by oxidation of soil organic matter. The ( δ 13 C DIC ) in catchment waters is highly variable, from about −22‰ in the springs and piezometers to about −12‰ in the stream at the outlet of the catchment. In the sprin…
The impact of agricultural management on selected soil properties in citrus orchards in Eastern Spain: A comparison between conventional and organic …
2017
The agricultural management of citrus orchards is changing from flood irrigated managed orchards to drip irrigated organic managed orchards. Eastern Spain is the oldest and largest European producer of citrus, and is representative of the environmental changes triggered by innovations in orchard management. In order to determine the impact of land management on different soil quality parameters, twelve citrus orchards sites were selected with different land and irrigation management techniques. Soil samples were taken at two depths, 0-2. cm and 5-10. cm for studying soil quality parameters under the different treatments. Half of the studied orchards were organically managed and the other si…
Small-sized platinum nanoparticles in soil organic matter: Influence on water holding capacity, evaporation and structural rigidity
2019
Abstract Engineered and anthropogenic nanoparticles represent a new type of pollutants. Up until now, many studies have reported its adverse effect on biota, but the potential influence on the properties and functions of environmental compartments has largely been ignored. In this work, the effect of Pt nanoparticles on the functions and properties of model soil organic matter has been studied. Using differential scanning calorimetry and molecular modeling, the effect of a wide range of 3 nm Pt nanoparticles concentrations on water holding capacity, the strength of water binding, the stability of water molecule bridges and the content of aliphatic crystallites was studied. It was found that…
Short-term impact of prescribed fire on soil pH, organic matter and hydrophobicity in a Calluna vulgaris heathland located in Lithuania. First results
2015
The aim of this work is study the short-term effects of a prescribed fire used for landscape management on soil pH, organic matter (SOM) and soil water repellency in different size fractions (2-1, 1-0.5, 0.5-0.25 and <0.25 mm) in a Calluna vulgaris heathland (After the fire and 4 months after the fire). We selected two different plots affected by different fire severities in order to observe if different prescribed fire severities could have different impacts on the studied soil properties (The severity in plot I was higher than in the plot II). The results showed that independently of the severity, the prescribed fire did not have in the period immediately after the fire did not changed si…
Dynamics and identification of soil microbial populations actively assimilating carbon from 13C-labelled wheat residue as estimated by DNA- and RNA-S…
2007
International audience; This work is the first report on the use of DNA-, RNA-SIP approaches to elucidate the dynamics and the diversity of bacterial populations actively assimilating C derived from plant residues labelled at more than 90% (13)C. Wheat-residues, were incorporated and incubated into soil microcosms for 28 days. At the end of the incubation time, no more than 55% of the total CO(2) released was (13)C-labelled, suggesting the occurrence of an important priming effect process. After 7 days, more than 30% of the whole DNA extracted were labelled, allowing an efficient separation of labelled from unlabelled DNA using density gradient centrifugation. The genetic structure of bacte…