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Runoff measurements from artificially levelled land showed that rates of particle erosion to the drainage system was even higher than that from surface runoff. This effect was increased by tillage whilst no tillage reduced the losses significantly. The field site soil type was a silty clay loam. Artificial levelling at the site had exposed an unstable subsoil, susceptible to cracking. Soil structures...
Conversion of natural forests to agriculture in the humid tropics leads to a reduction in ecosystem carbon storage due to the immediate removal of aboveground biomass and a gradual subsequent reduction in soil organic carbon. A considerable part of soil carbon is protected from microbial attack by a range of physical and chemical mechanisms and is not sensitive to landuse change. We analyzed the soils...
There is a need in many emerging nations to develop simple methods for predicting areas of extensive soil erosion using imprecise, but real-world, input data at low cost with considerable accuracy. The objectives of this study are to (1) develop fuzzy logic models that predict soil erosion in a relatively large watershed using a limited number of input variables, (2) determine the effects of scale...
Transport of pesticides, PAH and other hydrophobic or surface-complexing contaminants in soils may be enhanced by colloid-facilitated transport. A prerequisite for colloid-facilitated transport is the release and transport of colloids. The mechanisms for colloid mobilization and transport in a macroporous Alfisol have been evaluated by measuring the amount and type of colloids leached in two large...
Sandy soils formed from granitic rocks on Miocene-aged and older land surfaces cover a large area of central Zimbabwe. These deeply weathered soils are an important agricultural resource for the country yet susceptible to erosion with agricultural use, and decreases in productivity and sustainability have been documented. Regional-based surveys of Zimbabwe have evaluated the general extent of erosion,...
Soil genesis has been examined using field description, particle-size distributions, chemical properties, mineralogy and elemental distributions of five soil profiles developed on dolerite on Mt. Nelson and Tolmans Hill near Hobart in Tasmania. The soils form a sequence ranging from a Black Vertosol (P8) to four texture contrast soils, namely, a Eutrophic Brown Chromosol (P5), two Mottled-Subnatric...
Long-term high resolution measurements of precipitation, soil water budget, surface runoff, and sediment transport as well as rainfall simulations at plot scale have been accomplished on a non-vegetated lignite mining dump (Germany, Lusatia, Schlabendorf-North), completed by measurements of infiltration and water drop penetration time. The investigations revealed that the distribution of hydraulic...
The aim of this study is to determine the factors that control the spatial variability of chromium in the topsoil at the landscape scale by using a combination of both individual soil pit informations and systematic soil sampling analyses. The 11 ha study area, located in Massif Central (France), includes contrasted bedrock and topography.In a first approach we determined the relation between the...
A better understanding of spatial soil variability, its development over time (pedogenesis) and its functional relationships to recent processes in soil landscapes is one of the biggest challenge in soil science. This paper presents three case studies on the influence of soil pattern—developed in geological time scales—on actual matter transport: (i) solid phase transport in agricultural landscapes,...
In the semi-arid savannas of southern Arizona, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and saprophytic fungi are unique and measurable linkages between soil, plant and erosion processes. In the first growing season following burning significant declines in perennial grass cover and soil infiltration rates were observed, as were increases in bulk density. In the second growing season, perennial grass cover and...
The objective of this study was to examine the interactive effects of tillage and land forms (erodibility) on the redistribution of C, N and P within an agricultural landscape. Soils were sampled from an undulating maize field in central Belgium. Half of the field was under conventional tillage (CT), while the rest was under minimum tillage (MT) management. Based on slope and curvature characteristics,...
Soil organic matter (SOM) stabilisation on tropical sloping land can be influenced by slash burning and erosion processes. However, information on the behaviour of potentially stable components of organic matter on burned sites is scarce. This study is focused on organic matter soluble after demineralisation of the samples with hydrofluoric acid (HF soluble) and organic matter remaining after hydrolysis...
Chemical or mineralogical profiles in regolith display reaction fronts that document depletion of leachable elements or minerals. A generalized equation employing lumped parameters was derived to model such ubiquitously observed patterns:C=C0C0−Cx=0Cx=0exp(Γini·kˆ·x)+1Here C, C x=0 , and C o are the concentrations of an element at a given depth x, at the top of the reaction front,...
In this paper, different characteristics of runoff and eroded sediments were investigated as well as changes in textural composition of the original soil, on experimental plots. The objectives were to investigate the particle size distribution of the eroded sediments, as a function of soil, crop, and meteorological variables, and changes in texture due to water erosion over time. The study was performed...
The fate of black carbon deposited on the soil surface after burning of harvesting residues is poorly understood. In this study we quantified horizontal as well as vertical transport of total pyrogenic carbon and its chemically most stable part (OREC) during a rainfall experiment after an experimental burn. The aim of the study was to assess the importance of splash erosion versus runoff for the export...
Human-induced soil erosion has severe economic and environmental impacts throughout the world. It is more severe in the tropics than elsewhere and results in diminished food production and security. Kenya has limited arable land and 30% of the country experiences severe to very severe human-induced soil degradation. The purpose of this research was to test visible near infrared diffuse reflectance...
Conventional soil science methods for the estimation of the spatial variations of soil properties within landscapes are destructive, time consuming, and do not allow the estimation of the short range variability. Recent advances in geomatic global positioning systems and sensors offer new possibilities for the mapping of spatially varying soil patterns. Although geophysical techniques offer an alternative...
Two approaches have been used in the literature to estimate soil erosion using 137 Cs measurements. The traditional-approach requires only one set of samples and uses a single reference 137 Cs level, determined off-site, for the whole site. The repeated-sampling-approach requires two sets of samples and uses point-specific values, the 137 Cs inventories of the first set of...
Non-invasive geophysical techniques offer an interesting alternative to traditional soil sampling methods, especially for estimating spatial variations of soil parameters in the landscape. The spectral analysis of seismic surface-waves (MASW) can be used to determine the vertical shear-wave velocity (Vs) model (i.e., vertical variations in Vs with depth). In our study, MASW soundings were determined...
Central Chile has a Mediterranean climate with a mean annual precipitation of 695mm, 80% concentrated in winter. In this context, water erosion and inappropriate agricultural management along hillslopes are the major causes of soil degradation. From 2007 to 2010, different agricultural systems were compared: conservation tillage with stubble retained: no tillage (Nt), Nt+subsoiling (Nt+Sb), Nt+barrier...
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