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Varved lake sediments provide an invaluable archive of natural and human-induced environmental changes. We present results of sedimentological, geochemical and pollen analyses of recent sediments from Lake Jaczno (northeastern Poland). The sediment record was dated using varve chronology validated with 137Cs fallout peaks. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and stratigraphically constrained cluster...
Soil aggregate stability is a key factor in soil resistance to water erosion, which is a threat to soils in a large part of northern Tunisia. The analysis of the spatial variability of soil aggregate stability provides both agronomic and environmentally useful information. However, extensive measurements of soil aggregate stability remain tedious and expensive.This study explores two different approaches...
Soil is the largest terrestrial organic carbon pool and can act as a source or sink for atmospheric CO2. Although reliable soil carbon (SOC) stock measurements of major ecosystems are essential for predicting the influence of advancing climate change, comprehensive data on SOC stocks is still scarce for most ecosystems in subtropical areas. In this study, SOC and N stocks of different land use systems...
Variations in microbial biomass and activity within aggregate fractions can provide valuable information regarding mechanisms for enhancing carbon (C) sequestration and nutrient status in agricultural soils. The effects of different chronosequence phases on these variations in tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plantations have not yet been well documented. In this study, we assessed the relationship between...
Plant roots significantly affect soil erosion, while few works have pursued why root-penetrated soil obtained higher soil erosion resistance as compared with plain soil. For the purpose to investigate the relative contribution of root physical enlacing (root net-link and root-soil bond functions) and root biochemistrical exudates to soil erosion resistance. This study selected Purple alfalfa root-...
Heavy metal contamination has long been a water quality concern worldwide. Most studies have focused on heavy metal concentration in water through suspended sediment and bottom sediment; however, the concentration transported by river-bottom sediment, known as bedload, has not been taken into account. In order to fill this gap, this study aimed to determine the concentration of Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu,...
The importance of soil carbon in different biomes of the earth is well understood. Most of the studies on terrestrial carbon cycle have been focused on the surface horizon of soils, but deeper soils have rarely been considered. The effects of arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid climates on soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and soil total carbon storage (STC) along a soil climosequence,...
In order to study the evolution of westerly mid-latitude winds, we analyzed K/Al records from lacustrine and fluvial sediments of drill core Ls2 in the eastern Tarim Basin, for which the sedimentary record is continuous and well dated back to the late Miocene by magnetostratigraphy. The K/Al ratio obtained from drill core Ls2 may be a proxy index for precipitation amounts in the Tarim Basin. K/Al...
As a hidden resource, our understanding and knowledge on the distribution of groundwater and its quantity is limited. In areas where such data is scarce, geo-observatory products such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) can provide an accurate estimate of changes in total terrestrial water storage at a coarser, regional resolution. However, in the Lake Tana basin, Ethiopia, groundwater...
Glacial retreat areas offer an excellent opportunity for microbial ecologists to study ecological theories. The place of this study was the glacier retreat area of Iztaccíhuatl volcano in México (19.02°N, 98.62°W). Sampling took place at eleven different sites along the retreat area in 2008 and 2009. Soil samples (200g each) were frozen, and air-shipped to the laboratory and analysed for organic C...
Buried, humus-rich horizons, up to 0.60m thick, poor in archaeological artefacts and other anthropogenic materials, were identified during an archaeological rescue excavation conducted at monastery grounds, located near the centre of Wrocław (SW Poland). As indicated by historical sources, the monks settled in the 18th century in a suburb area, which had been used for agriculture and gardening since...
This paper focuses on the susceptibility evaluation to bank gullies on earthen embankments through the application of SIMWE (SIMulated Water Erosion) model, using a high resolution digital elevation model (1meter spatial resolution). The results provided by the model are compared with the hydrologic characteristics, soil texture and soil structure of the agricultural terraces. This approach demonstrates...
To assess suitable areas for species, plant ecologists need accurate spatial information about available water for plants. Despite the recognized importance of topography in controlling soil moisture patterns, existing maps do not account for the redistribution of water through lateral fluxes. We included lateral fluxes in a GIS-based soil water balance model with the aim of evaluating the influence...
Land degradation, a current environmental threat of global proportions, is a complex issue which needs an interdisciplinary approach in order to tackle a given territory's sensitivity to the process. This study aims to spatially analyse the land degradation sensitivity in south-western Romania, a region currently known for this type of environmental deterioration. The analysis is based on mapping...
Riparian woodlands have recently been recognized as important carbon (C) storage regions with a considerable potential of sequestering C to mitigate global warming. Understanding soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in riparian woodland and the differences in SOC storage between riparian woodlands and other adjacent land types is important to effectively assess SOC storage in riparian woodlands and the...
Digital soil mapping (DSM) products represent estimates of spatially distributed soil properties. These estimations comprise an element of uncertainty that is not evenly distributed over the area covered by DSM. If we quantify the uncertainty spatially explicit, this information can be used to improve the quality of DSM by optimizing the sampling design. This study follows a DSM approach using a Random...
State-and-transition models (STM) are used to describe, model, interpret, and predict when landscapes will undergo a qualitative state change. Although rangeland ecologists pioneered STMs, geomorphological STM-type models were developed prior to and independently of ecological STMs. This study categorized 47 geomorphological STMs according to whether they were: based on single or multiple study areas;...
Quantification of Si in its different forms in soil is a prerequisite to understand the geochemical distribution and fate of Si along with their driving biogeochemical processes. However, different Si fractions in floodplain soils have not been quantified yet, and little is known about the biogeochemical processes driving Si fractionation in these soils. Therefore, we applied for the first time a...
Little is known on the planform evolution of gravel-bed rivers in base-level raised backwater zones upstream from dam reservoirs. The general model of river channel response to base-level rise predicts a decrease in river sinuosity. However, the observations of channel adjustments in the reservoir backwater document a narrower and more sinuous channel developed as a result of fine sediment deposition...
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