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We investigated the morphological, chemical and mineralogical properties of unusual black oxisols, rich in Mn oxides derived from intense weathering of dolomite, near Graskop in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Soil mapping of a small catchment was carried out and seven horizons from two profiles were sampled for detailed analysis. A consistent pattern was evident in which black, lower subsurface...
The study of pedodiversity and soil richness depends on the notion of soils as discrete entities. Soil classifications are often criticized in this regard because they depend in part on arbitrary or subjective criteria. In this study soils were categorized on the basis of the presence or absence of six lithological and morphological characteristics. Richness vs. area relationships, and the general...
The older forest type Quercetum–Betuletum (oak/birch; Q-type vegetation) in southern Switzerland and northern Italy was to a large extent replaced by chestnut forests (Castanea sativa; C-type vegetation) in roman times. When laurophylloid vegetation (L-type vegetation) invaded some of these chestnut systems during the last few decades, it caused detectable changes in organic chemistry. The invasion...
Legacy soil data form an important resource for digital soil mapping and are essential for calibration of models for predicting soil properties from environmental variables. Such data arise from traditional soil survey. Methods of soil survey are generally empirical and based on the mental development of the surveyor, correlating soil with underlying geology, landforms, vegetation and air-photo interpretation...
Copper accumulation in vineyard's soil is the consequence of long-term use of copper-based fungicides against downy mildew. Copper contamination in soil of 22 vineyards in the Sub-Mediterranean winegrowing region has been studied in terms of various soil properties (cation exchange capacity, organic matter and pH), vineyard age, soil depth and landform. The CaCl 2 /H 2 O extractable...
Topography is a major factor controlling both hydrological and soil processes at the landscape scale. This is well-known qualitatively in that topography, along with parent material, climate, biota, and time, is one of the fundamental soil forming factors. The topographic influence is also apparent in the soil catena concept. Digital elevation models (DEMs) and topographic indices calculated from...
Accurate mapping of total soil carbon is important for reliable assessment of carbon sequestration potential from a field to regional scales. Highly variable soil and topographical attributes of glacial till terrain cause difficulties in mapping soil carbon based only on a limited number of soil samples. The objectives of this study were to demonstrate the feasibility of mapping total soil carbon...
The addition of organic matter to soil is frequently viewed as a vital intervention to maintain soil quality. The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal response of the soil macroorganic fraction to different organic coffee farming practices (e.g., plant residue, earthworm and microbial inocula addition). Three density fractions of macroorganic matter (>150 μm) were studied during 1...
The application of X-ray computed tomography (CT) in soil micromorphology has motivated researchers to quantify soil structure, particularly void space, for three dimensional analysis. The objective of this study was comparison of optical and a proposed CT method for void space determination, using a set of four thin section samples. The thin section samples were imaged for optical data using plain...
An extensive soil condition assessment should include some appropriate tools to measure crop management influence on the soil condition. Univariate (partial regressions) and multivariate (canonical correspondence analysis, partial canonical analysis of correspondence and the method of variation partitioning) were used to determine the independent and joint effects of crop management and the spatial...
Spatial structure analysis was conducted on a previously published dataset of DDT species concentrations in topsoil samples from Tianjin, China (p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDE and ∑p,p′-DDTs). Positive nuggets were observed for all three DDT species and ∑p,p′-DDTs in the four directions modeled. The Nugget–Sill-Ratio values, 0.62, 0.50, 0.63 and 0.58, for p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD and ∑p,p′-DDTs...
Current bioavailability assessments of light rare earth elements (LREEs) are often carried out under greenhouse conditions. This work was to identify which soil properties are mostly related to LREE bioavailability and what extraction method is the most promising approach for assessing bioavailability of LREEs to wheat under field conditions. A comparison was made between four commonly used extractants...
Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and methane (CH 4 ) are important greenhouse gases (GHG) produced respectively by the naturally occurring microbial processes of incomplete denitrification or nitrification and methanogenesis. Tillage practices and climate affect the release of GHGs. No tillage (DMC) systems may increase CO 2 –C fixation in soil but also N 2 O and CH 4 ...
Measures of taxa pedodiversity are discussed. It is argued that taxonomic distance needs to be incorporated into pedodiversity calculations to get an effective estimate. Various comparisons showed that the mean taxonomic distance, also called Rao's quadratic entropy, appears to be a good measure of pedodiversity. This index combines both information on the abundance and taxonomic distance between...
In the tropical moist semi-deciduous forests of West Africa, gravelly soil horizons common on the summits and upper slopes in the landscape, are often covered by a thin layer of gravel-free soil. Previous investigations have shown that these top layers are formed by termites transporting gravel-free soil material from the subsoil to fallen logs and branches on the soil surface. The present study located...
Selenium is an essential nutrient that is potentially toxic: one of its radio-elements is also a component of long-lived radioactive waste for which long-term deep geological storage is envisaged. The chemistry of Se in soils is complex and very sensitive to redox potential and microbial activity which largely determine its oxidation state and chemical form. The dynamics of Se have been extensively...
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