Search results for "soil water"
showing 10 items of 840 documents
Changes in soil organic matter and soil humic substances following the afforestation of former agricultural lands in the boreal-nemoral ecotone (Latv…
2019
Abstract Abandonment of agricultural land is a widespread process in Northern Europe, which is associated with changes in content and distribution of organic matter in soil, including C stocks. There is insufficient information on changes in soil organic matter properties during afforestation of these lands. The aim of the study was to determine and describe the influence of afforestation on organic carbon (CORG) content and properties of soil organic matter (SOM) in mineral topsoil in the boreo-nemoral ecotone in Latvia. We studied soils in 4 model territories that represented abandoned farmlands and territories where mixed or coniferous forests were established at different times on forme…
Soil moisture influences sorptivity and water repellency of topsoil aggregates in native grasslands
2017
Abstract Water repellency is associated to coating of soil particles by hydrophobic substances, usually of organic origin, affecting water dynamics in soil matrix. We analyzed the effect of water repellency on water sorptivity of topsoil aggregates of six soil types under three initial moisture conditions (10 kPa, 100 kPa, and air-dried). Undisturbed soil samples were collected to evaluate sorptivity in the 0–5 cm soil layer at different locations in Pampa Biome in southern Brazil. Disturbed soil samples were also collected for soil particle size distribution, particle density and organic matter content. Sorptivity test was conducted in a tension micro-infiltrometer, using distilled water a…
Connectivity assessment in Mediterranean vineyards using improved stock unearthing method, LiDAR and soil erosion field surveys
2018
The interaction between processes and landforms is accelerated in vineyards due to bare tilled soils that enhance splash, runoff, and erosion. Traditionally, in order to assess these processes, the stock unearthing method (SUM) is considered a useful methodology that uses the graft union of the vine plant as passive bio-indicator of the topsoil level changes. However, SUM assumes that the topography between the rows is planar when development of a model of the current micro-topography is performed. Thus, we consider that there is a need to develop a new methodology (ISUM: improved SUM) that, by adding new measurements in the inter-row areas (at least 3), allows inclusion of the absent micro…
Soil fungal community composition does not alter along a latitudinal gradient through the maritime and sub-Antarctic
2012
We investigated the relationships between fungal community composition, latitude and a range of physicochemical parameters in 58 soils sampled from a 2370 km latitudinal gradient between South Georgia (54 S, 38 W) in the sub-Antarctic and Mars Oasis (72 S, 68 W) on Alexander Island in the southern maritime Antarctic. Our study, which is based on approximately ten times the number of samples used in previous similar studies, indicates that latitude and its associated environmental parameters are not related to fungal community composition. Significant changes in the composition of soil fungal communities were observed in relation to gradients of the ratio of total organic carbon to nitrogen,…
Soil and organic carbon redistribution in a recently burned Mediterranean hillslope affected by water erosion processes
2022
Forest fires cause many changes in the physical, chemical and biological soil properties such as aggregation and soil organic carbon contents (SOC) as well as on soil hydrology and erosion processes. Most studies on post-fire soil erosion in Mediterranean environments have been plot-based and research at hillslope or broader scale is scarce. Understanding SOC nature, distribution and modifications, as produced by forest fires and erosion, has become crucial to model and define the role of soil erosion as source or sink of C, and to sustainably manage ecosystem services related to the soil resource. This research provides data about the loss and redistribution of soil and SOC in a Mediterran…
Pedogenesis and carbon sequestration in transformed agricultural soils of Sicily
2021
The increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is a consequence of human activities leading to severe environmental deteriorations. Techniques are thus needed to sequester and reduce atmospheric carbon. One of the proposed techniques is the transformation or construction of new soils into which more organic carbon can be sequestered and CO2 be consumed by increased weathering. By using a chronosequence of new and transformed soils on crushed limestone (0–48 years) in a Mediterranean area (Sicily), we tried to quantify the amount of organic carbon that could be additionally sequestered and to derive the corresponding rates. A further aim was to trace chemical weathering and related CO2 consump…
Differences of stabilized organic carbon fractions and microbiological activity along Mediterranean Vertisols and Alfisols profiles
2010
This study examined the chemical and structural properties of humic substances and microbiological activity in order to verify differences in carbon dynamics along soil profiles in two Vertisols (Typic Haploxerert and Xeric Epiaquert) and two Alfisols (Mollic Haploxeralf and Ultic Haploxeralf) developed under Mediterranean climate in Italy. Humification parameters, thermal methods, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG), together with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and fluorescence spectroscopies were used to characterize humic acids (HA). Microbiological activity of soils was assessed by basal respiration, metabolic quotient (qCO2) and Cmic:Corg rat…
Phosphorus Loss in Overfertilized Soils: The Selective P Partitioning and Redistribution Between Particle Size Separates
2007
Using 12 well-characterised European soils contrasting in their physical and chemical properties, we demonstrate significant differences in the partitioning of phosphorus (P) between various particle size separates. Samples of each soil were subjected to one of three methods of increasingly aggressive dispersion in the order water (WD), mechanical (MD) or chemical (CD). A general, although not exclusive, inverse relationship existed between the concentration of various attributes (these included organic carbon, oxalate and dithionite iron contents, total P, resin and water extractable P) and particle size. The quantity, composition and physico-chemical properties of individual size separate…
Organic carbon, water repellency and soil stability to slaking under different crops and managements: a case study at aggregate and intra-aggregate s…
2014
This research studies the distribution of organic C and intensity of water repellency in soil aggregates with different size and in the interior of aggregates from Mediterranean soils under different crops (apricot, citrus and wheat) and management (con- 5 ventional tilling and no tilling/mulching). For this, undisturbed aggregates were sampled and carefully divided in size fractions (0.25–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–2, 2–5, 5–10 and 10–15 mm) or peeled to obtain separated aggregate layers (exterior, transitional and interior). Organic C content in the fine earth fraction of soils under different crops did not show important variations, although it increased significantly from conventionally tilled to 10…
Soil chemical and biochemical properties of a salt-marsh alluvial Spanish area after long-term reclamation
2009
Marisma, one of the largest salt-marsh alluvial areas in SW Spain, has been reclaimed since 1970 by artificial drainage and amendment with phosphogypsum (PG) so as to reduce Na+ saturation. Within the reclaimed area, two 250- × 20-m plots were treated as follows: (1) amendment with 25 Mg/ha of PG every 2 to 3 years between 1979 and 2003 (plot PY); (2) like PY but PG treatment stopped after 1997 (plot DR). A contiguous virgin Marisma salt-marsh plot (MV), neither drained nor amended, was the control. In MV, soil microbial biomass C, most enzyme activities and total organic C content were much greater than in PY and DR soils, despite the salinity stress. The decrease in soil organic matter co…