Search results for "soil"

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…

CO2 output discharged from Stromboli Island (Italy)

2013

Abstract Total CO 2 output from soil gas and plume, discharged from the Stromboli Island, was estimated. The CO 2 emission of the plume emitted from the active crater was estimated on the basis of the SO 2 crater output and C/S ratio, while CO 2 discharged through diffuse soil emission was quantified on the basis of 419 measurements of CO 2 fluxes from the soil of the whole island, performed by using the accumulation chamber method. The results indicate an overall output of ≅ 416 t day − 1 of CO 2 from the island. The main contribution to the total CO 2 output comes from the summit area (396 t day − 1 ), with 370 t/day from the active crater and 26 t day − 1 from the Pizzo sopra La Fossa so…

Effect of plot size on measured soil loss for two Italian experimental sites

2011

The objective of this investigation was to determine empirically the plot width and length effects on runoff volume, Ve, soil loss, Ae, and sediment concentration, Ce, by using data collected, at the temporal scale of the erosive event, on bare plots differing in width (2 to 8 m) and length (11 to 22 m) for two Italian stations (Masse, Umbria; Sparacia, Sicily). Mean results differed by a maximum factor of 1.6 for Ve, 1.8 for Ae and 1.2 for Ce when plots differing in width were compared and by a maximum factor of 1.4 for Ve, 1.2 for Ae and 1.3 for Ce when comparison between plot lengths was conducted. Differences between two plot widths or two plot lengths were not statistically significant…

Analysis of soil loss data from plots of differing length for the Sparacia experimental area, Sicily, Italy

2010

Widely used models of the soil erosion process, such as the empirical universal soil loss equation (USLE) and revised USLE (RUSLE), suggest that soil loss, i.e. the mass of soil lost by water erosion per unit surface area, increases with slope length, λ, although contrasting experimental results may be found in the literature. Experiments were carried out at the Sparacia site, Sicily, to establish the influence of plot length on soil loss. This was tested using data characterised by a high number of replicated, bare plots of different lengths (0.25, 0.4, 1, 2, 5, 11, 22, 33 and 44 m), simultaneously operating in the 1999–2008 period. Event soil losses did not vary significantly with λ or ev…

Establishing a soil loss threshold for limiting rilling

2015

In this paper a frequency analysis of event soil loss measurements collected in the period 1999–2012 at the microplots and plots of the Sparacia Experimental Area in Sicily, southern Italy, was developed. The analysis was carried out using the annual maximum soil loss measurements normalized by the mean soil loss measured at a given temporal and spatial scale. The empirical frequency distribution of the normalized variable was well fitted by two Gumbel’s theoretical probability distributions discriminated by a value of the normalized variable equal to 2. This last value discriminates between the relatively low and frequent values of the normalized variable and the high and rare ones. The an…

Testing a new sampler for measuring plot soil loss

2015

Response to ‘comment on “predicting event soil loss from bare plots at two Italian sites”’

2014

In this paper, a response to the comment by Dr. Kinnell on “Predicting event soil loss from bare plots at two Italian sites”’ (Bagarello et al., Catena 109, 96–102, 2013) is provided.

Comparison of aggregate stability indices for soil classification and assessment of soil management practices

1989

Summary In view of soil structure analysis and land-use and management history evaluation, several mechanical indices of soil structure were tested on 13 Italian soils. From the wet and dry sieving aggregate distributions, a pseudo-textural aggregation index (Ipta) and a mechanical aggregation index (Ima)) were determined and compared with other soil structure stability indices based on single-sieve analysis. The single-sieve indices S and WSI were good correlated with Ipta and Ima, showing the possibility of substituting the time-consuming aggregate-size distribution determinations. All the soil structure indices were correlated with selected semi-permanent soil characteristics. Soil struc…

The impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on groundwater quality in an active volcanic/geothermal system under semi-arid climatic conditions: T…

2017

Abstract A comprehensive hydrogeochemical study of the cold and thermal groundwaters of the presently quiescent volcanic system at Methana was undertaken that involved collecting 71 natural water samples. Methana is a peninsula in Peloponnesus, Greece whose arid climate and hydrological situation is similar to that of the nearby small islands of the Aegean Sea. Similarly, the chemical and isotopic compositions of its water are dominated by the mixing of seawater with meteoric water both through direct intrusion and meteoric recharge. However, the simple mixing trends at Methana are modified by water–rock interaction processes, enhanced by the dissolution of endogenous CO2, which lead to str…

Application and evaluation of the SWAP model for simulating water and solute transport in a cracking clay soil

2005

In Sicily, the increasing scarcity of quality water is leading to irriga- from salinization (Crescimanno et al., 2004). tion with saline water in soils having a considerable susceptibility to In Sicily, the increasing scarcity of good quality water cracking. Irrigation systems involving high application rates are used coupled with intensive use of soil under semiarid to arid in these irrigated areas, and bypass flow during irrigation is thus climatic conditions, is leading to irrigation with saline prevalent. Adoption of management practices accounting for cracking water on soils having a high shrink-swell potential and is therefore necessary to prevent salinization and land degradation. su…