Search results for "soil texture"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Establishment of a commercial organic hopyard in a Mediterranean environment: Production attributes and their relationship with soil texture
2023
The cultivated hops are recently moving towards new growing areas in Southern Europe, boosted by the increasing number of craft breweries and by the higher vulnerability to climate change observed, for this crop, in the traditional growing regions. Despite this clear market and geographic trend, there is a lack of knowledge about pedoclimatic needs and agronomic performances of hops grown in the Mediterranean environment. Particularly, the agronomic potential of a new hopyard during its establishment period is poorly studied even in traditional growing zones. Moreover, a restricted number of plants were usually sampled to gather the few data available, thus leading to a probable overestimat…
Fitting particle size distribution models to data from Burundian soils for the BEST procedure and other purposes
2009
Testing the Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer (BEST) soil particle size distribution (PSD) model is necessary to evaluate the applicability of the BEST procedure for characterising soil hydraulics. In this investigation, the fitting performance of the BEST PSD model was tested using a database of 114 Burundian soils with 14 measured particle size fractions for each soil sample, and also by considering a reduced number of measured particle size fractions for a sample. The fitting performance of the model developed by Fredlund et al. (2000) (FR model) was also considered for comparative purposes. On average, the BEST model yielded satisfactory results (i.e., mean relative error, E r ¯ = 3.9…
Measuring hydrological connectivity inside soils with different texture by fast field cycling nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry
2022
Abstract The locution “hydrological connectivity inside the soil” is generally used to disclose how the spatial patterns inside the soil affect the physical–chemical processes at a molecular level to influence water transfer into the soil, the surface runoff and related sediment transport. Fast Field Cycling (FFC) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry has been used to measure both structural and functional connectivity by two indexes indicated as structural (SCI) and functional (FCI) connectivity index. Here, FFC-NMR relaxometry has been applied to analyze three samples: two non-degraded soils, having different grain-size distribution, and a degraded soil sampled in a badland area. P…
Influence of environmental factors on the spatial distribution and diversity of forest soil in Latvia
2012
This study was carried out to determine the spatial relationships between environmental factors (Quaternary deposits, topographical situation, land cover, forest site types, tree species, soil texture) and soil groups, and their prefix qualifiers (according to the international Food and Agricultural Organization soil classification system World Reference Base for Soil Resources [FAO WRB]). The results show that it is possible to establish relationships between the distribution of environmental factors and soil groups by applying the generalized linear models in data statistical analysis, using the R 2.11.1 software for processing data from 113 sampling plots throughout the forest terri…
Spatial Distribution of Soil Hydrological Properties in the Kilombero Floodplain, Tanzania
2017
Analysis and interpretation of soil properties dynamics is a keystone in understanding the hydrologic responses and yield potential of floodplain wetlands. This study characterizes the distribution and spatial trends of selected soil physical properties in the Kilombero floodplain, Tanzania. A total of 76 composite soil samples were taken from 0 to 20 cm and 20 to 40 cm depth in a regular grid design across three hydrological zones, related to flooding intensity defined as fringe, middle, and riparian during the rainy season of 2015. The samples were analyzed for soil texture, bulk density, organic carbon, and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Seasonal soil moisture content was monitored at…
Factors Influencing Point Measurement of Near-surface Saturated Soil Hydraulic Conductivity in a Small Sicilian Basin
2017
Hydraulic conductivity of saturated soil, Ks, controls many hydrological processes. Parameterization of basin hydrological models in terms of Ks is complicated and uncertain owing to the very high spatial variability of this soil property. A small Sicilian basin was intensively sampled by the simplified falling head technique to obtain spatially distributed Ks data, and an attempt to explain their spatial variability on the basis of soil physical characteristics, digital elevation model-derived topographic attributes and land cover was carried out. High Ks values were obtained when clay content was low and both elevation and mean slope were high. Moreover, differences in Ks among land cover…
Estimating saturated soil hydraulic conductivity by the near steady-state phase of a Beerkan infiltration test
2017
Abstract Single-ring infiltration experiments carried out in the field, such as the Beerkan runs, allow easy and inexpensive characterization of soil hydraulic properties, and specifically saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks, by maintaining the functional connection of the sampled soil volume with the surrounding soil. However, a single infiltration experiment is not enough to determine Ks. The simplest way to obtain the necessary additional data is based on the assessment of the soil texture and structure characteristics. In this investigation, a simplified method, named SSBI (Steady version of the Simplified method based on a Beerkan infiltration run), was developed to estimate Ks b…
Effect of soil and canopy factors on vegetation of Quercus robur woodland in the boreo-nemoral zone: A plant-trait based approach
2013
Abstract The aim of the study was to determine the effect of soil and canopy on the understory vegetation of Quercus robur stands in Latvia, located in the boreo-nemoral zone. To determine the main processes regulating formation of the plant communities, the understory vegetation of Q. robur stands was described using plant traits. Vegetation and soils were described in 24 plots representing contrasting soil types and tree species composition. Redundancy analysis was used to determine the relation between vegetation, described using plant traits (proportion of species with each trait), and soil and canopy factors. About 50% of the variation in vegetation described by plant traits was explai…
Wildland fire ash: Production, composition and eco-hydro-geomorphic effects
2014
Abstract: Fire transforms fuels (i.e. biomass, necromass, soil organic matter) into materials with different chemical and physical properties. One of these materials is ash, which is the particulate residue remaining or deposited on the ground that consists of mineral materials and charred organic components. The quantity and characteristics of ash produced during a wildland fire depend mainly on (1) the total burned fuel (i.e. fuel load), (2) fuel type and (3) its combustion completeness. For a given fuel load and type, a higher combustion completeness will reduce the ash organic carbon content, increasing the relative mineral content, and hence reducing total mass of ash produced. The hom…
Effects of solarisation on soil thermal-physical properties under different soil treatments: A review
2020
Solarisation technology allows for improving soil quality as well as crop productivity. The influence of the properties and method of use of plastic materials used to cover soils, such as the number and thickness of layers, and colour of the material, significantly alters soil thermal-physical properties. These effects can be managed and modified to increase solarisation efficiency by achieving a decrease in vapour movement between the soil surface and the atmosphere. Also, soil solarisation establishes microclimates that increase the effectiveness of fertilisers, thus modifying the soil thermal-physical properties. However, there is a lack of complete and general overview of this widely us…