Long term changes in atmospheric N and S throughfall deposition and effects on soil solution chemistry in a Scots pine forest in the Netherlands

In a Scots pine forest the throughfall deposition and the chemical composition of the soil solution was monitored since 1984. (Inter)national legislation measures led to a reduction of the deposition of nitrogen and sulphur. The deposition of sulphur has decreased by approximately 65%. The total mineral-nitrogen deposition has decreased by ca. 25%, which is mainly due to a reduction in ammonium-N deposition (−40%), since nitrate-N deposition has increased (+50%). The nitrogen concentration in the upper mineral soil solution at 10 cm depth has decreased, leading to an improved nutritional balance, which may result in improved tree vitality. In the drainage water at 90 cm depth the fluxes of NO₃⁻ and SO₄²⁻ have decreased, resulting in a reduced leeching of accompanying base cations, thus preserving nutrients in the ecosystem. It may take still several years, however, before this will meet the prerequisite of a sustainable ecosystem.     

Soil and vegetation carbon stocks in Brazilian Western Amazonia: relationships and ecological implications for natural landscapes

The relationships between soils attributes, soil carbon stocks and vegetation carbon stocks are poorly know in Amazonia, even at regional scale. In this paper, we used the large and reliable soil database from Western Amazonia obtained from the RADAMBRASIL project and recent estimates of vegetation biomass to investigate some environmental relationships, quantifying C stocks of intact ecosystem in Western Amazonia. The results allowed separating the western Amazonia into 6 sectors, called pedo-zones: Roraima, Rio Negro Basin, Tertiary Plateaux of the Amazon, Javari-Juruá-Purus lowland, Acre Basin and Rondonia uplands. The highest C stock for the whole soil is observed in the Acre and in the Rio Negro sectors. In the former, this is due to the high nutrient status and high clay activity, whereas in the latter, it is attributed to a downward carbon movement attributed to widespread podzolization and arenization, forming spodic horizons. The youthful nature of shallow soils of the Javari-Juruá-Purus lowlands, associated with high Al, results in a high phytomass C/soil C ratio. A similar trend was observed for the shallow soils from the Roraima and Rondonia highlands. A consistent east–west decline in biomass carbon in the Rio Negro Basin sector is associated with increasing rainfall and higher sand amounts. It is related to lesser C protection and greater C loss of sandy soils, subjected to active chemical leaching and widespread podzolization. Also, these soils possess lower cation exchangeable capacity and lower water retention capacity. Zones where deeply weathered Latosols dominate have a overall pattern of high C sequestration, and greater than the shallower soils from the upper Amazon, west of Madeira and Negro rivers. This was attributed to deeper incorporation of carbon in these clayey and highly pedo-bioturbated soils. The results highlight the urgent need for refining soil data at an appropriate scale for C stocks calculations purposes in Amazonia. There is a risk of misinterpreting C stocks in Amazonia when such great pedological variability is not taken into account.     

淹水时间对土壤粘闭的影响

本文研究了植稻前淹水时间长短对土壤物理性质和粘闭作用的影响。结果表明,淹水可以显著地降低土壤强度,但土壤抗穿透力并不随淹水时间的延长而进一步明显下降;延长淹水时间,可以促进土壤粉粒和粘粒的分散,但土壤粘闭胼形成的有效粘闭层厚度以及粘闭后表层土壤强度的降低、主要受所使用的粘闭机具的影响,而与淹水时间的长短无关。因此,过分地延长淹水时间的措施,在生产实践上的意义并不大。     

Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by combined chemical pre-oxidation and bioremediation in creosote contaminated soil

The ability of pre-oxidation to overcome polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) recalcitrance to biodegradation was investigated in creosote contaminated soil. Sand and peat artificially spiked with creosote (quality WEI C) were used as model systems. Ozonation and Fenton-like treatment were proved to be feasible technologies for PAH degradation in soil. The efficiency of ozonation was strongly dependent on the water content of treated soil samples. The removal of PAH by Fenton-like treatment depended on the applied H2O2/soil weight ratio and ferrous ions addition. It was determined that the application of chemical oxidation in sand resulted in a higher PAH removal and required lower oxidant (ozone, hydrogen peroxide) doses. The enhancement of PAH biodegradability by different pre-treatment technologies also depended on the soil matrix. It was ascertained that combined chemical and biological treatment was more efficient in PAH elimination in creosote contaminated soil than either one alone. Thus, the combination of Fenton-like and the subsequent biological treatment resulted in the highest removal of PAH in creosote contaminated sand, and biodegradation with pre-ozonation was found to be the most effective technology for PAH elimination in peat.     

长江口没冒沙演变过程及其对水库工程的响应

研究南槽没冒沙演变规律，可以为筑库引淡蓄水工程建设提供科学依据。根据该海区近百年来各个时期的海图和20年来的实测水文泥沙等资料以及2003、2004年的现场观测数据，探讨了没冒沙的形成及形成后的演变过程。研究表明：没冒沙的形成和发育经历了局部边滩冲刷、边滩沙嘴发育和沙脊形成3个阶段；近半个世纪来，沙体中轴位置在稳定强劲的涨落潮流作用下呈现出西北—东南走向的良好的稳定性，具有潮流脊性质。而蓄淡水库工程建设将有可能使南槽成为适应进出水沙量的新型河槽。     

Decision making under uncertainty in case of soil remediation

Decisions on soil remediation are one of the most difficult management issues of municipal and state agencies. The assessment of contamination is uncertain, the costs of remediation are high, and the impacts on the environment are multiple. This paper presents a general, transparent, and consistent method for decision making among the remediation alternatives. Soil washing, phytoremediation, and no remediation are exemplarily considered. Multi-criteria utility functions including (a) the cost of remediation (b) the impact on human health and agricultural productivity, and (c) the economic gain after remediation are constructed using probability density functions representing contamination for all site coordinates. Herewith, the probability of different types of (i) correct decisions such as a hit or a true rejection and (ii) erroneous decisions such as a false alarm or miss are examined. The decision theoretic model is applied to a case study on heavy metal contaminated soil. This case study reveals the non-linear structure of multi-criteria-decision making. The case study shows that the geostatistical uncertainties of the log-normal distributed soil contamination must be taken into account: When uncertainties are not considered and the utilities are assessed according to the estimated value for a spatial unit, only few (N=26) spatial units result where the utility score of the alternative soil washing are higher than the utility score to the no remediation alternative. However, when taking into account geostatistical uncertainties of the log-normal soil distribution this number is about ten times greater (N=237). Furthermore, the use of 'maximizing expected utility' as decision rule is critical in that it may lead to a high probability of misses.     

Use of USLE/GIS Methodology for Predicting Soil Loss in a Semiarid Agricultural Watershed

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an erosion model to estimate average soil loss that would generally result from splash, sheet, and rill erosion from agricultural plots. Recently, use of USLE has been extended as a useful tool predicting soil losses and planning control practices in agricultural watersheds by the effective integration of the GIS-based procedures to estimate the factor values in a grid cell basis. This study was performed in the Kazan Watershed located in the central Anatolia, Turkey, to predict soil erosion risk by the USLE/GIS methodology for planning conservation measures in the site. Rain erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), and cover management factor (C) values of the model were calculated from erosivity map, soil map, and land use map of Turkey, respectively. R values were site-specifically corrected using DEM and climatic data. The topographical and hydrological effects on the soil loss were characterized by LS factor evaluated by the flow accumulation tool using DEM and watershed delineation techniques. From resulting soil loss map of the watershed, the magnitude of the soil erosion was estimated in terms of the different soil units and land uses and the most erosion-prone areas where irreversible soil losses occurred were reasonably located in the Kazan watershed. This could be very useful for deciding restoration practices to control the soil erosion of the sites to be severely influenced.     

Determinants of Farmers’ Adoption of Improved Soil Conservation Technology in a Middle Mountain Watershed of Central Nepal

This study explores different socio-economic and institutional factors influencing the adoption of improved soil conservation technology (ISCT) on Bari land (Rainfed outward sloping terraces) in the Middle Mountain region of Central Nepal. Structured questionnaire survey and focus group discussion methods were applied to collect the necessary information from farm households. The logistic regression model predicted seven factors influencing the adoption of improved soil conservation technology in the study area including years of schooling of the household head, caste of the respondent, land holding size of the Bari land, cash crop vegetable farming, family member occupation in off farm sector, membership of the Conservation and Development Groups, and use of credit. The study showed that technology dissemination through multi-sectoral type community based local groups is a good option to enhance the adoption of improved soil conservation technology in the Middle Mountain farming systems in Nepal. Planners and policy makers should formulate appropriate policies and programs considering the farmers' interest, capacity, and limitation in promoting improved soil conservation technology for greater acceptance and adoption by the farmers.     

Magnetic mapping of fly-ash pollution and heavy metals from soil samples around a point source in a dry tropical environment

The Singrauli region in the southeastern part of Uttar Pradesh, India is one of the most polluted industrial sites of Asia. It encompasses 11 open cast coalmines and six thermal power stations that generate about 7,500 MW (about 10% of India’s installed generation capacity) electricity. Thermal power plants represent the main source of pollution in this region, emitting six million tonnes of fly-ash per annum. Fly-ash is deposited on soils over a large area surrounding thermal power plants. Fly-ashes have high surface concentrations of several toxic elements (heavy metals) and high atmospheric mobility. Fly ash is produced through high-temperature combustion of fossil fuel rich in ferromagnetic minerals. These contaminants can be identified using rock-magnetic methods. Magnetic susceptibility is directly linked to the concentration of ferromagnetic minerals, primarily high values of magnetite. In this study, magnetic susceptibility of top soil samples collected from surrounding areas of a bituminous-coal-fired power plant were measured to identify areas of high emission levels and to chart the spatial distribution of airborne solid particles. Sites close to the power plant have shown higher values of susceptibility that decreases with increasing distance from the source. A significant correlation between magnetic susceptibility and heavy metal content in soils is found. A comparison of the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility with heavy-metal concentrations in soil samples suggests that magnetic measurements can be used as a rapid and inexpensive method for proxy mapping of air borne pollution due to industrial activity.     

人类活动对土壤环境的影响及对策

人类不合理的开发行为给土壤环境带来了沉重的负面影响，主要表现为土壤沙化、土壤侵蚀、土壤盐渍化、土壤污染等。本文以此为出发点展开讨论，分析各种现象的成因，并提出相应对策。