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The emergence and diffusion of metallurgical technology had tremendous environmental consequence, however, the spatial-temporal consequences of the metallurgy during Bronze Age are not clear in China. In this paper, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurement and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted on heavy metal element (Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cr and As) concentrations (HMEC) of natural and anthropogenic...
In this paper the results of a plot experiment on rill erosion are reported. The rill network, manually incised on the soil and further shaped by a clear inflow discharge, was surveyed using the three-dimensional photo-reconstruction (3D-PR) technique which allows to obtain a digital terrain model (DTM) by a large series of oblique images of the channel from consumer un-calibrated and non-metric cameras...
The forests of the Tibetan Plateau store large amounts of soil organic carbon (OC) but are among the most vulnerable and sensitive ecosystems to environmental change. The lack of knowledge regarding the distribution and turnover of OC and nitrogen (N) in Tibetan Plateau forest soils limits the ability to predict how this ecosystem will respond to climate change. In this study, we collected mineral...
Precipitation and temperature are two primary drivers that significantly affect hydrologic processes in a watershed. A network of land-based National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) weather stations has been typically used as a primary source of climate input for agro-ecosystem models. However, the network may lack the density to adequately capture spatial climate variability throughout large watersheds...
The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of applying gypsum and rice straw compost on improvements in soil quality during the desalination of previously reclaimed coastal tideland soils. The four treatments were control (without amendment), gypsum, rice straw compost, and gypsum+rice straw compost. The experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design with three...
Peat bogs are ecosystems characterized by high levels of organic matter (OM), which accumulates in environments of low biological activity. The peat bogs present in the tropical highlands of Serra do Espinhaço Meridional (SdEM), Brazil, are associated with hydromorphic environments formed under specific conditions and the strong influence of the quartzite basement, whereby a complex pattern of faults,...
There is an increasing concern on how human activities could affect the ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands, a hot-spot for biodiversity recognized worldwide. Despite the high number of studies related to the ecological relationships between species in these islands, almost no research has been conducted on the description of their soils, a basic component of the ecosystems of Galapagos. In 1962,...
Floodplains are depositional features of a channel valley associated with a specific climatic and hydrologic regime of a drainage basin. In tropical conditions, sediments can be quickly weathered by soil-forming processes and tend to obliterate pre-existing sedimentary structures. Therefore, the objective of many studies on floodplains is to identify and discuss such sedimentary features, mostly those...
The collision and suturing of Indian and Eurasian plates about 50Ma ago closed the Tethys Ocean, initiated Himalayan orogen and a foreland basin developed towards its south. The last phase of marine sedimentation in Indian sub-continent during Paleocene-Eocene is represented by Subathu Formation overlain by continental Dagshai sediments and nature of this transition, named as ‘Passage beds’ (sensu...
The alpine meadow in the Tibetan plateau is predicted to be sensitive to climate change. Understanding soil organic carbon (SOC) characteristics and soil aggregate stability is essential for scientifically evaluating their effect as a carbon (C) sink or source under a climate change scenario. In this study, the spatial variations of the concentrations of SOC and its fractions, the chemical composition...
Human settlement activities are connected with the accumulation of nutrients in archaeological soils. We address the question of whether the large-scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil in contemporary rangeland can be used for the detection of ancient settlement activities.Using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), we mapped the elemental composition of contemporary soils over an...
In order to determine the pattern and spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated soil at a site of an organic chemical plant with irregular terrain, we developed a method of soil sampling by subarea that considers topographic features. We divided the site into the west subarea, which had the highest elevation; the southeast subarea (second-highest elevation), and...
Magnetic susceptibility (χ) is a simple and quick technique to determine soil properties and to describe soil forming processes. Knowledge about factors affecting χ data helps better interpretation. Magnetic susceptibility of soils along a lithotoposequence was studied in this research in order to investigate the effects of soil forming factors (parent material and relief) and processes on the χ content...
Floodplain lakes are important wetlands on many lowland floodplains of the world but depressional floodplain lakes are rare in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley. One of the largest is Catahoula Lake, which has existed with seasonally fluctuating water levels for several thousand years but is now in an increasingly hydrologically altered floodplain. Woody vegetation has been encroaching into the...
Length of the secondary forest fallow period has often played an important role in affecting the soil fertility status for first year cultivation of crops in shifting cultivation system. However, information regarding the soils after the first year cultivation is limited. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of different shifting cultivation fallow period on the dynamics of soil health...
Whereas contemporary land use and land management planning require specific and quantitative georeferenced soil information, often only general-purpose and qualitative soil maps are available. With a view to fill this gap for topsoil clay and organic carbon content in the central plateaus of Burundi, we tested for a representative 15km2 hilly landscape, six types of SCORPAN models. The SCORPAN models...
The topography on the eastern and western sides of the Liupan Mountains (northwestern China) is characterized by hilly and gully loess deposits with elevations above 1000m. This study aims to uncover the mechanisms governing loess groundwater and soil water recharge in these relatively arid to semiarid higher loess hills on the basis of temporal soil profiles. The results show that during the four...
Pumice, a component of pyroclastic soils, undergoes a grain crushing process, even at lower stress level, with the resulting decreasing in shear strength in such material. According to the content already discussed in Esposito et al. 2013, this paper is focused on the attempt to further correlate the in situ measures acquired on these kinds of soils, in particular about suction, humidity and saturation,...
This paper was primarily devoted to reveal the stock of soil organic carbon (C) as well as its lability and to compare their differences existing among tillage and residue practices, aiming to identify the effects on the accumulation process of organic C and its association with macroaggregation. Arable soils following 8-year contrasting managements were collected to determine aggregate size distribution,...
Many surveys with differently sized rainfall simulators have been conducted in the past to study runoff and erosion processes on the plot scale. Concerning the understanding of runoff processes on the slope scale, comparative studies have shown that sprinkling devices with large plot sizes (≥40m2) produce more representative results than small-plot rainfall simulators (4m2 and less). Nevertheless,...
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