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The application of fractal geometry to describe soil structure, soil dynamics, and physical processes within soil is becoming an increasingly useful tool that allows for a better understanding of the performance of soil systems. The fractal dimension of particle-size distributions (PSDs) is often used to estimate several properties in soils, such as texture and moisture characteristics. Land use patterns...
This study was designed to inventory heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the soils of Réunion (volcanic island in the Indian Ocean). Thirty-nine sampling sites were selected to account for the entire range of soils present on the island. From one to three layers of cultivated and uncultivated soils were sampled, with 84 soil samples analyzed overall. Réunion soils were found...
We analysed by an optical method (the small volume method) the composition and the vertical distribution of an organic soil which accumulated over an old petroleum tar deposit. The study site was an oil refinery now colonised by woody vegetation since the time of abandonment (1964), located at Merkwiller-Pechelbronn (Alsace, France). Comparisons were done with a nearby unpolluted control plot under...
Soil aggregation plays a crucial role in soil physicochemical and biological processes, thus influencing soil nutrient retention. It is possible to improve soil aggregation by choosing appropriate agricultural practices. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of tillage, crops and fertilizer sources on size distribution of water-stable aggregates (WSA) and nutrient concentrations...
A simple method, allowing the evaluation of the effect of compaction on soil structure is presented. The method is based on soil moisture measurements via Time Domain Reflectrometry (TDR). The hydrodynamic variation of soil moisture has indicated two types of compaction: 1) Compaction by load traffic caused a reduction of structure in the top 0.10 m layer. Consequently, no water flow occurred downward...
The morphology of soil pores is a crucial factor in the understanding of the ecology of soil microorganisms at a small scale. X-ray computer tomography (CT) enables to visualize the soil pore space in three dimensions. We aimed at exploring possible changes in porosity and pore morphology during the incubation of soil to which fresh residue was added. These changes were compared to changes in porosity...
Stochastic simulations are increasingly used to represent and characterize the spatial structure and uncertainty of soil properties. Due to the potential presence of scale dependencies, simulations of the total variables can represent a mixture of spatial components operating at different scales, which may be better interpreted separately. While coregionalization analysis and factorial kriging provide...
Given appropriate management, soils may serve as a sink for carbon, and thereby play a potentially important role in helping countries meet CO 2 emission reductions as agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol. To fully judge the capacity of soils to store carbon, however, gaps regarding the mechanisms of organic carbon (OC) stabilization need to be filled. A number of studies have demonstrated the...
Many soils in arid regions of the world including those of central Iran contain palygorskite and carbonates in their mineral fraction. There is, however, little information on the effects of these minerals on soil physical and mechanical behaviour. A laboratory experiment was carried out to evaluate tensile strength of artificial mixtures of sand–palygorskite–calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ). Palygorskite...
In the vineyard Languedoc plain soil compaction caused by tillage operations and traffic is suspected to have a long-term effect on vineyard production. To assess the importance of this soil compaction at the scale of a vine production area and to determine its various origins, a field method based on the morphological observation of the soil structure was applied at 28 sites that cover the variability...
In mountainous semiarid southeastern Cuba, livestock is mainly kept on freely accessible state land. In one of these areas, intensively and extensively grazed hillslope areas were investigated. Four transects were laid along toposequences distinguishing six different slope positions. Soil parameters and soil depth were analysed, and covers of herb and shrub layer were estimated as well. Besides the...
Knowledge of the distribution of crop-available trace elements in soils is limited by the sparseness of georeferenced data and the inherent variability of the more-labile forms of these elements. Cokriging with auxiliary variables can sometimes improve estimates for a less densely sampled primary variable, while skewed data can often be made more suitable for geostatistical modeling by appropriate...
Direct and indirect methods are available to estimate soil hydraulic properties, which are prerequisites to solve water movement equations. Direct methods are usually time consuming and require complex measuring devices, and a skilled operator compared to indirect methods. Indirect methods, e.g., pedotransfer functions (PTFs) estimate parameters based on easily obtained soil texture data, have lately...
This study examined pedogenesis, as well as the clay mineralogy of soil and rock samples obtained from a transect of gypsiferous and calcareous materials. The main objectives of this research were to study the relationship between clay minerals and physiographic units as well as the relative importance of key pedogenic processes in controlling clay mineralogy. Palygorskite, chlorite, illite, smectite,...
Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) can cause soil degradation, which may not only undermine soil productivity, but may also-affect environmental health. In China, a huge amount of crop residues is regularly removed from the fields, and therefore China's agriculture depends on high levels of chemical fertilizer inputs. This paper aims to estimate the SOC storage in Chinese cropland, identify its changing...
Quantification of soil erosion using conventional approaches is hampered by lack of extensive spatial coverage and long duration data. Therefore use of these approaches for land management advisory has tended to result in unsatisfactory landuse plans that are in great disparity to on-site observations by farmers. Farmers have great knowledge of what they perceive as the indicators of soil erosion,...
The aim of this work has been to carry out salinity mapping within the environmental context of the Lower Chéliff Plain (40,000 ha) in Algeria, where soil salinity appears to be a major threat to agricultural production. Spatio-temporal monitoring of soil salinity must therefore be urgently implemented in order to evaluate the progression of salinity hazards or the effectiveness of remediation strategies...
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