Search results for "Soil degradation"
showing 10 items of 11 documents
Soils, environmental awareness and ecological footprint in the European countries
2008
Effect of Standard Disk Plough on Soil Translocation in Sloping Sicilian Vineyards
2022
Tillage is the main force of soil redistribution in agricultural land use and has been seen as more critical than water erosion. This study aims to evaluate the effect of tillage with standard disk in vineyards. A representative study area with grapevines was selected, and 39 inter-rows were selected to test the effect of slope and forward speed. In each inter-row, a strip of soil was collected, and mixed with 2 kg of coloured sand used as a tracer, then replaced in the strip, and shallow soil tillage was performed by means of a standard disk plough. Three soil subsamples were collected along the slope every 0.30 m from the coloured strip and the sand tracer was separated from the soil and …
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…
Urban growth (1956-2012) and soil sealing in the metropolitan area of Valencia (Eastern Spain)
2019
[EN] The aim of this study is to understand the urban growth dynamics from the mid-1950s to 2012 in the Metropolitan Area of Valencia, eastern Spain, and its impact on soils. The study area is a very interesting example of the many changes in land use and land cover in the landscape of Mediterranean alluvial plains. The analysis of urban growth was based on photo interpretation of aerial photographs and GIS based methodology. At a detailed scale (1:10,000), results show that there has been a highly dynamic process produced by the extent of land developed as urban area. In 1956 only 3,441 hectares (9.3% of the overall study area) were occupied by urban use. In 2012 the total sealed surface w…
The (Evolving) vineyard’s age structure in the valencian community, Spain. A new demographic approach for rural development and landscape analysis
2019
Vineyards have assumed a key role as rural landmarks in recent decades. Investigating vineyard dynamics and contexts may reveal various economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of rural landscapes, which can be linked to land-use changes and major soil degradation processes, including soil erosion. As a contribution to rural landscape studies, the purpose of this work is to investigate the spatial distribution of vineyard plots in the Valencian community, located in the eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the final product, the type of vineyard and how long each vineyard has been settled over time. The work provides a comprehensive analysis of a wine-growing landscape, c…
Impact of wheeled and tracked tractors on soil physical properties in a mixed conifer stand
2016
Abstract: Damage to forest soil caused by vehicle traffic mainly consists of soil compaction, displacement, and rut formation. Severity of the damage depends on vehicle mass, weight of the carried loads, ground morphology, and soil properties, such as moisture. This paper investigates the impacts of two types of vehicles (tracked or wheeled tractor), traffic intensities (one or five skidding cycles) and soil moisture (24% or 13% by weight) on compaction of a loam textured soil in a mixed conifer stand of central Italy. Changes in porosity, bulk density, shear and penetration resistances were analyzed. The latter three parameters were significantly higher in the trafficked soil portions than…
A review of runoff generation and soil erosion across scales in semiarid south-eastern Spain
2011
Climate, lithology, soil and especially, intense land use/cover changes, make SE Spain very vulnerable to runoff generation and water erosion leading to loss of nutrients and organic matter and to infrequent but devastating floods, reservoir siltation and mass failures. This susceptibility has led to heavy economic investment and research efforts since the 1980s, making this region a worldwide reference for understanding the hydrology and geomorphology of semiarid ecosystems. Runoff and soil erosion have been intensively studied throughout the last decades in various natural ecosystems as well as in abandoned farmlands. Research has considered a wide range of methods and spatial and tempora…
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.
Biotechnology of the Recultivation of Technogenically Disturbed Landscapes in the South and East of Kazakhstan (биотехнология рекультивации техногенн…
2018
Reclamation of technogenically disturbed lands requires several procedures and assignments. In the South of Kazakhstan during the field development of phosphate deposits, pastoral type lands were disturbed. Reclamation works were done in two stages - technical and biological. The technical stage included the dump planning, loamy ground delivery for bottom lining, layer-bylayer covering and stabilisation. The biological stage included planting of phyto-meliorants, biochar and carbamide insertion under crops. In the city of Ridder, around the mining processing industry, the black humus soil was exposed to aggressive emission of zinc plant. The soil is currently degraded and devoid of vegetati…
The contribution of the European Society for Soil Conservation (ESSC) to scientific knowledge, education and sustainability
2019
Soil is an integral component of the global environmental system which supports the quality and diversity of terrestrial life on Earth. Therefore, it is vital to consider the processes and impacts of soil degradation on society, especially on the provision of environmental goods and services, including food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Scientific societies devoted to soil science play significant roles in reducing soil degradation and promoting soil conservation by advancing scientific knowledge, education and environmental sustainability. The ESSC was founded on 4 November 1988, with the aims to: 1. Support research on soil degradation, soil protection and soil an…