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Land abandonment has been the main land use change in rural Mediterranean areas over the last decades. The secondary succession following land abandonment is strongly affected by precipitation, which in turn determines the change of soil organic carbon (SOC) and other soil properties. However, SOC consists of different fractions with contrasting resistance to decomposition that are differently affected...
The environmental mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals in soil are greatly influenced by sorption reactions on soil minerals, which are, in turn, controlled by the presence of various organic ligands, such as amino acids, in soil solution. In this study, the effects of l-cysteine (Cys) and l-histidine (His) amino acids on lead (Pb) sorption by palygorskite and sepiolite, as the specific silicate...
Natural aluminization of swelling clay minerals is ubiquitous in acidic soils leading to the formation of hydroxy-interlayered (HI) minerals. This process has drawn special attention over the last 4–5 decades owing to the negative impact on soil fertility of the induced reduction of cation exchange capacity. Combination of chemical analyses and of X-ray diffraction profile modeling on a series of...
The differing properties of termite mound material compared to the surrounding soils are well-documented. Far less is known about their variability within the mounds themselves. Detailed sampling and physico-chemical analysis of four large Macrotermes mounds around Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo, revealed soil-related properties are far from uniform within the mounds. The total variability is highest perpendicular...
There have been few studies on the formation and resistance of physical crusts to wind erosion for typical steppe soils in Inner Mongolia, China. The objectives of this study were to 1) examine the effects of rainfall quantity on soil crust thickness, 2) investigate the effects of soil crust on wind erosion, 3) determine the crust thickness (crust formed by various rainfall quantities) able to most...
This study generated new insight into the effect of bedrock grain sizes on pedogenesis under identical topographic and climatic environment. The physico-chemical and mineralogical properties of two adjacent Typic Dystrochrepts (USDA, 1999) respectively developed from fine and coarse textured granites were compared. This research study was performed in the Morvan Mountains (France). Analysis of the...
We explored the links between geomorphology, weathering and cation availability across the most common forest types and geologic provinces in the El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico. Our goal was to connect the controls on primary mineral supply to soil with stocks of plant-available cations. We established a network of 216 soil profiles comprising toposequences (ridges, slopes and valleys) in...
Today biochar is considered a stable-carbon source that is able to improve soil quality. However, although biochar effects on some soil properties are already becoming well known, its impact on complex soil hydrological functions has yet to be better assessed. The main objectives are: (a) to determine the impact of different biochar amendments on important physical and chemical soil properties and...
Schwertmannite is a secondary iron mineral, found in acid mine drainage (AMD) and acid sulfate soils (ASS), that generates acidity when it transforms to stable mineral phases. Acidity liberated during schwertmannite transformation can seriously diminish water quality and soil health. Acidified ammonium oxalate (AAO) extraction in the dark coupled with differential X-ray diffraction (DXRD) analysis...
So far, studies concerning the analyses of the soil magnetic susceptibility in the soil profile have been usually making use of classic statistics. The number of papers where spatial correlations of magnetic susceptibility were analyzed is still limited. In particular, the micro-scale spatial correlations have been rarely analyzed.The goal of this study was to analyze microscale spatial correlations...
Plant microbial symbionts could play a significant role on aggregate stability, an important index for soil physical quality. So far there is little information available linking the presence of endophyte in the aboveground parts of plants, with aggregate stability of rhizosphere soil. We hypothesized that the presence of Epichloë coenophiala in the aboveground parts of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea...
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