Search results for "soil"
showing 10 items of 3493 documents
USING ROTATING SPRINKLER GUNS IN CENTRE‐PIVOT IRRIGATION SYSTEMS †
2019
The use of centre-pivot irrigation systems has significantly increased in the last few decades, since they are easier and less time-consuming to manage compared to other irrigation systems. Standard high-pressure impact sprinklers, low-pressure spray sprinklers or LEPA (Low Energy Precision Application) systems are usually combined with a centre-pivot irrigation system (CP-SYS). However, when applying waste water or with reclaimed effluents that are extremely dirty, small nozzle sizes that require CP-SYS could get plugged. As an alternative to common centre-pivot irrigation systems, this paper analyses the ‘geometry’ of areas irrigated by rotating sprinkler guns in a centre-pivot irrigation…
Contribution to development of microbial bioindicators for assessing the impact of agricultural pratices on soil
2015
Soil is the support of agricultural production. It performs many functions essential to the provision of ecosystem services necessary for the well-being of our societies. Soil physicochemical and biological properties have been altered by the development of intensive agriculture while it is a non-renewable resource, revealing the need to develop new management practices suitable for the sustainability of soil quality. This also marked the entry into the “Agroecology” era, which promotes the development of new agricultural systems optimizing services provided by biodiversity to reduce the use of inputs and energy use. To achieve this aim, the development of a range of indicators to assess th…
Morphological Similarity of Channels: From Linear Erosional Features (Rill, Gully) to Alpine Rivers
2017
The geometric characteristics of incised features such as channels, rills, ephemeral gully, gully, represent the erosional transport regime and the fluvial dynamic equilibrium, and thus it is critical for the understanding of the long-term evolution of natural, agricultural, and anthropogenic landscapes. This paper examines the morphological similarity of channelized erosion in two different environments such as Alpine landscapes and cultivated hillslopes. The first dataset comprises six rivers in the Italian Alps, three in the Carnia region and three in the Dolomites, where erosion is mainly the effect of discharges with high sediment loads or landslides and debris flows. The agricultural …
Metals distribution in the organic and inorganic fractions of soil: A case study on soils from Sicily
2005
The content of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn, has been determined in the organic and inorganic fraction of eight soil samples from Sicily. A modified type-Tessier sequential extraction procedure has been used to recognize metals in five different fractions categorised as follows: (a) exchangeable metals, (b) metals bound to carbonates, (c) metals bound to iron and manganese oxides, (d) metals bound to organic matter, and (e) metals in residual fraction. The mineralogical composition of soils samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction. Humic substances were extracted by means of an alkaline extraction procedure. It has been found that both the mineralogical composition and the di…
The lithium isotope response to the variable weathering of soils in Iceland
2021
Abstract This study has analysed Li isotopes ratios from well-studied soil and pore water profiles from Iceland that have the same parent material but have experienced different degrees of chemical weathering. Thus, from least to most weathered, we have analysed vitrosols (V), gleyic andosols (GA), brown andosols (BA), Histosols (H) and Histic Andosols (HA). Although the most weathered H and HA soils have the highest content in clay-sized material, they have the least fractionated δ7Lipore water values. In contrast, the least weathered GA and BA pore waters are most fractionated for Li isotopes. Given that Li isotope ratios are fractionated by clay mineral formation, this appears counter-in…
Ring diameter effects on determination of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity of different loam soils
2017
Abstract Establishing ring diameter effects on the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Kfs, determined with ponding infiltrometer methods can help to find a compromise between the need to sample a large area with an individual measurement and the impracticality of using large rings in the field. Five ring sizes (diameter, D = 5.5, 10.9, 16.0, 27.8 and 31.8 cm) were used to determine Kfs by the simplified falling head (SFH) technique in four loamy soils with different salinity (electrical conductivity of saturated extract, ECe = 0.9–29.4 dS/m) and sodicity (exchangeable sodium percentage, ESP = 2.7–81.3%) levels. According to USDA classification, two soils were non-saline, non-sodic…
Interlamellar Reactions of Tetracalcium Aluminate Hydrates with Water and Organic Compounds
1967
Tetracalcium aluminate hydrates are the first example of layer-structured crystals containing neutral sheets, which are highly capable of interlamellar adsorption of water and neutral organic compounds. In this respect tetracalcium aluminate hydrates present new aspects of the phenomenon of swelling, and bring about the challenge of comparison with the frequently examined clay-organic compounds. This report is concerned with the probable monolayer structure of tetracalcium aluminate hydrate which forms five hydration stages. A summary concerning configuration and properties of adsorption complexes with approximately 500 selected organic substances follows. As far as these substances are hom…
FeMnOx-1: A new microanalytical reference material for the investigation of Mn–Fe rich geological samples
2016
Suitable Mn-Fe rich microanalytical reference materials (MRMs) as calibration material for laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) have not been available. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has prepared a synthetic MRM, FeMnOx-1, with elevated mass fractions of MnO (25 g/100 g), Fe2O3 (8.5 g/100 g) and high mass fractions of 25 trace elements varying between 200 and 5000 mg/kg. This new MRM has been designed as calibration material for a wide range of different Mn-Fe deposits, such as desert/rock varnish, ocean crusts and nodules as well as Mn accumulations in soils and lakes. Small-scale an…
EDXRF and TXRF analysis of elemental size distributions and environmental mobility of airborne particles in the city of Riga, Latvia
2004
Airborne particles were investigated in the central part of Riga during October 2000. Mass, black carbon and elemental concentrations of airborne particles were measured on Teflon filters from a dichotomous impactor, which samples fine (<2.5 µm) and coarse (2.5‐10 µm) fractions of particles. In order to obtain more detailed information on the size distributions of different elements, a seven-stage Batelle cascade impactor was used, in which quartz plates treated with silicone grease were utilized as backing for the different stages. Total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) and energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry were used for elemental analysis on the quartz plates a…
Changes of humic substances characteristics from forested to cultivated soils in Ethiopia
2006
The dynamics of the stable fractions of soil organic matter (SOM), the humic substances, has been rarely studied in tropical soils. We evaluated extraction yields, elemental composition, isotopic d 13 C abundance and solid-state 13 C NMR spectra of humic fractions isolated from five forested and cultivated soils in Ethiopia in order to assess the influence of deforestation and subsequent cultivation on the composition of humic fractions. In all locations, humic (HA) and fulvic (FA) acids, humin (HU) and a humic hydrophobic fraction extracted with an acetone–HCl solution (HE) were decreased as a result of deforestation and cultivation, but the magnitude of decrease was site-specific. While t…