Temporal Evolution of Soil Erodibility: Assessment of Explanatory Factors, and Consequences on Erosion Modelling
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Constructed Technosols: a Strategy Toward a Circular Economy
applied sciences Review Constructed Technosols: A Strategy toward a Circular Economy Debora Fabbri 1 , Romeo Pizzol 1, Paola Calza 1, Mery Malandrino 1 , Elisa Gaggero 1, Elio Padoan 2,* and Franco Ajmone-Marsan 2 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Turin, via P. Giuria 5, 10125 Turin, Italy; [email protected] (D.F.); [email protected] (R.P.); [email protected] (P.C.); [email protected] (M.M.); [email protected] (E.G.) 2 Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences, University of Turin, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Soil is a non-renewable natural resource. However, the current rates of soil usage and degra- dation have led to a loss of soil for agriculture, habitats, biodiversity, and to ecosystems problems. Urban and former industrial areas suffer particularly of these problems, and compensation measures to restore environmental quality include the renaturation of dismissed areas, de-sealing of surfaces, or the building of green infrastructures. In this framework, the development of methodologies for the creation of soils designed to mimic natural soil and suitable for vegetation growth, known as constructed soils or technosols, are here reviewed. The possible design choices and the starting materials have been described, using a circular economy approach, i.e., preferring non-contaminated wastes to non-renewable resources. Technosols appear to be a good solution to the problems of land degradation and urban green if using recycled wastes or by-products, as they can be an alternative to the remediation of contaminated sites and to importing fertile agricultural soil. -
The State of Soil in Europe
The State of Soil in Europe A contribution of the JRC to the European Environment Agency’s Environment State and Outlook Report— SOER 2010 Arwyn Jones, Panos Panagos, Sara Barcelo, Faycal Bouraoui, Claudio Bosco, Olivier Dewitte, Ciro Gardi, Markus Erhard, Javier Hervás, Roland Hiederer, Simon Jeffery, Anke Lükewille, Luca Marmo, Luca Montanarella, Claudia Olazábal, Jan-Erik Petersen, Vit Penizek, Thomas Strassburger, Gergely Tóth, Miet Van Den Eeckhaut, Marc Van Liedekerke, Frank Verheijen, Eva Viestova, Yusuf Yigini EUR 25186 EN - 2012 European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Contact information Arwyn Jones Address: TP 280, Via Enrico Fermi, 2749 ‐ 21027 ‐ Ispra (VA) – Italy E‐mail: [email protected] Tel.: +39 0332 789162 Fax: +39 0332 786394 http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ Legal Notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa.eu/ JRC68418 EUR 25186 EN ISBN 978‐92‐79‐22805‐6 (print) ISBN 978‐92‐79‐22806‐3 (PDF) ISSN 1018‐5593 (print) ISSN 1831‐9424 (online) -
California's Serpentine
CALIFORNIA'S SERPENTINE by Art Kruckeberg Serpentine Rock Traditional teaching in geology tells us that rocks Californians boast of their world-class tallest and can be divided into three major categories—igneous, oldest trees, highest mountain and deepest valley; but metamorphic, and sedimentary. The igneous rocks, that "book of records" can claim another first for the formed by cooling from molten rock called magma, state. California, a state with the richest geological are broadly classified as mafic or silicic depending tapestry on the continent, also has the largest exposures mainly on the amount of magnesium and iron or silica of serpentine rock in North America. Indeed, this present. Serpentine is called an ultramafic rock because unique and colorful rock, so abundantly distributed of the presence of unusually large amounts of around the state, is California's state rock. For magnesium and iron. Igneous rocks, particularly those botanists, the most dramatic attribute of serpentine is that originate within the earth's crust, above the its highly selective, demanding influence on plant life. mantle, contain small but significant amounts of The unique flora growing on serpentine in California illustrates the ecological truism that though regional climate controls overall plant distribution, regional Views of the classic serpentine areas at New Idria in San Benito County. The upper photo was taken in 1932, the lower in 1960 geology controls local plant diversity. Geology is used of the same view; no evident change in 28 years. Photos here in its broad sense to include land forms, rocks courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service and Dr. -
Policy Brief Soil Sealing and Land Take
The RECARE project is funded by the European Commission FP7 Programme, ENV.2013.6.2-4 ‘Sustainable land care in Europe’. POLICY BRIEF SOIL SEALING AND LAND TAKE SUMMARY Urbanisation is an ongoing trend in Europe leading to land take and soil sealing at the expense of agricultural land and other open landscapes. Despite the extensive loss of productive soils and the valuable ecosystem services that soils provide, the awareness of the magnitude and negative implications of these processes remain relatively low. Systematic solutions are required to reduce the scale of land take and soil sealing. More specifically, an overall strategic aim and framework for sustainable soil management at EU and national level are needed, complemented by binding and quantitative land take targets and adequate financial and technical support at national scale. Municipal spatial planning is one of the most important instruments to foster sustainable city development and highlights the importance of cities to guide this process. This also includes testing and deploying new approaches such as joint regional planning, Open Space concepts or the application of zoning concepts to protect the most fertile and valuable soils from sealing. In this policy brief, we illustrate the scale of the problem and identify ready-made solutions and steps policy makers and practitioners can take across different levels, from city planning to national and European level. INTRODUCTION B Europe loses about 1.007 km² of soil due to land take M r annually (EEA 2017), which is approximately a loss f the size of the city of Berlin. Land take especially affects metropolitan areas (peri-urban areas) usually e characterized by land with high soil quality and some of the most productive agricultural soils. -
Land Consumption and Land Take: Enhancing Conceptual Clarity for Evaluating Spatial Governance in the EU Context
sustainability Article Land Consumption and Land Take: Enhancing Conceptual Clarity for Evaluating Spatial Governance in the EU Context Elisabeth Marquard 1,* , Stephan Bartke 1 , Judith Gifreu i Font 2 , Alois Humer 3 , Arend Jonkman 4 , Evelin Jürgenson 5, Naja Marot 6, Lien Poelmans 7 , Blaž Repe 8 , Robert Rybski 9, Christoph Schröter-Schlaack 1, Jaroslava Sobocká 10, Michael Tophøj Sørensen 11 , Eliška Vejchodská 12,13 , Athena Yiannakou 14 and Jana Bovet 15 1 Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Department of Economics, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; [email protected] (S.B.); [email protected] (C.S.-S.) 2 Faculty of Law, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected] 3 Department of Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna, Universitaetsstrasse 7/5, 1010 Vienna, Austria; [email protected] 4 Department of Management in the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628BL Delft, The Netherlands; [email protected] 5 Chair of Geomatics, Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014 Tartu, Estonia; [email protected] 6 Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva ulica 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; [email protected] 7 VITO—Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek, Unit Ruimtelijke Milieuaspecten, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium; [email protected] -
Soil Sealing and Unsealing
62,/6($/,1*$1'816($/,1*67$7(2)7+($57$1' (;$03/(6 Short title: SOIL SEALING AND UNSEALING Silvia Tobias*a), Franz Conenb), Adrian Dussa)c), Leonore M. Wenzelb), Christine Busera)c), Christine Alewellb) a)Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Landscape Ecology Group, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland, [email protected] b)University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Bernoullistrasse 30, 4056 Basel, Switzerland c)University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland *Corresponding author (also for proofs): Silvia Tobias; [email protected]; Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL; Zürcherstrasse 111; CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland Tel: +41-44-739 23 49; fax: +41-739 22 15 7KLVDUWLFOHKDVEHHQDFFHSWHGIRUSXEOLFDWLRQDQGXQGHUJRQHIXOOSHHUUHYLHZEXWKDVQRW EHHQWKURXJKWKHFRS\HGLWLQJW\SHVHWWLQJSDJLQDWLRQDQGSURRIUHDGLQJSURFHVVZKLFKPD\ OHDGWRGLIIHUHQFHVEHWZHHQWKLVYHUVLRQDQGWKH9HUVLRQRI5HFRUG3OHDVHFLWHWKLVDUWLFOHDV GRLOGU 7KLVDUWLFOHLVSURWHFWHGE\FRS\ULJKW$OOULJKWVUHVHUYHG Abstract Soil sealing for urban and infrastructure development constitutes the most intense form of land degradation and affects all ecosystem services. Researchers and policy makers have become aware of this fact and call for limiting development and compensating for new soil sealing with unsealing measures. In a literature review, we found that the state of research about the impacts of soil sealing is far more advanced than about the potential and prerequisites of unsealing. In practice, soil restoration after -
Los Angeles Urban Soil Toolkit
LOS ANGELES URBAN SOIL A beginner’s guide to improving and sustaining the health of LA’s urban soil Funding Agency: Accelerate Resilience L.A., a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors TreePeople’s mission is to inspire, engage and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun and sustainable and to share the process as a model for the world. © 2021 by TreePeople. 1 Healthy Soils For Healthy Communities To better explore and utilize the potential of soils in LA, TreePeople launched the “Healthy Soils for Healthy Communities” Initiative. The objectives of the initiative include: ● Elevating healthy soils as the “brown” in green infrastructure policy, planning, management, and investments in both the built and natural environments. ● Increasing public and policy-maker awareness of the importance and potential of healthy soils in building climate resilience, sustaining urban ecosystem functions, and enhancing public health. ● Conducting cutting-edge science and research that gets used to fill the information gaps. ● Facilitating policy changes to promote and support healthy urban soil projects. ● Empowering communities with science-based information, best management practices, and practical tools — including the creation of this LA Urban Soil Toolkit. As the first phase of the initiative, we conducted a needs assessment aiming to: • Determine the current status of LA’s urban soil health. • Identify the most pressing urban soil issues and community needs through community consultation and outreach. • Provide a framework for future work regarding urban soil research, policy, public education and community engagement in the region. For more information about Healthy Soils for Healthy Communities Initiative, please visit: treepeople.org/healthy-soils-for-healthy-communities-initiative/. -
Articles, and the Creation of New Soil Habitats in Other Scientific fields Who Also Made Early Contributions Through the Weathering of Rocks (Puente Et Al., 2004)
Editorial SOIL, 1, 117–129, 2015 www.soil-journal.net/1/117/2015/ doi:10.5194/soil-1-117-2015 SOIL © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. The interdisciplinary nature of SOIL E. C. Brevik1, A. Cerdà2, J. Mataix-Solera3, L. Pereg4, J. N. Quinton5, J. Six6, and K. Van Oost7 1Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, USA 2Departament de Geografia, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain 3GEA-Grupo de Edafología Ambiental , Departamento de Agroquímica y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad s/n, Edificio Alcudia, Elche, Alicante, Spain 4School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia 5Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK 6Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Tannenstrasse 1, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland 7Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Correspondence to: J. Six ([email protected]) Received: 26 August 2014 – Published in SOIL Discuss.: 23 September 2014 Revised: – – Accepted: 23 December 2014 – Published: 16 January 2015 Abstract. The holistic study of soils requires an interdisciplinary approach involving biologists, chemists, ge- ologists, and physicists, amongst others, something that has been true from the earliest days of the field. In more recent years this list has grown to include anthropologists, economists, engineers, medical professionals, military professionals, sociologists, and even artists. This approach has been strengthened and reinforced as cur- rent research continues to use experts trained in both soil science and related fields and by the wide array of issues impacting the world that require an in-depth understanding of soils. -
Global CO2 Emission-Related Geotechnical Engineering Hazards and the Mission for Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering
Review Global CO2 Emission-Related Geotechnical Engineering Hazards and the Mission for Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering Ilhan Chang, 1 Minhyeong Lee 2 and Gye-Chun Cho 2,* 1 School of Engineering and Information Technology (SEIT), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia 2 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +82-42-869-3622 Received: 10 June 2019; Accepted: 28 June 2019; Published: 3 July 2019 Abstract: Global warming and climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have rapidly increased the occurrence of abnormal climate events, and both the scale and frequency of geotechnical engineering hazards (GEHs) accordingly. In response, geotechnical engineers have a responsibility to provide countermeasures to mitigate GEHs through various ground improvement techniques. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive review of the possible correlation between GHG emissions and GEHs using statistical data, a review of ground improvement methods that have been studied to reduce the carbon footprint of geotechnical engineering, and a discussion of the direction in which geotechnical engineering should proceed in the future. Keywords: global warming; climate change; greenhouse gas; carbon dioxide; extreme precipitation; disaster; geotechnical engineering hazard; ground improvement; soil stabilization 1. Introduction Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities, especially carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels have continuously increased since the late 19th century and are strongly related to global economic growth and the population explosion [1]. Recent studies provide strong evidence of the progressive climate change brought about by the anthropogenic increase in GHG emissions [1]. -
Chemical and Biochemical Properties of Soils Developed from Different Lithologies in Northwestern Spain (Galicia)
Article Chemical and Biochemical Properties of Soils Developed from Different Lithologies in Northwestern Spain (Galicia) Valeria Cardelli 1,*, Stefania Cocco 1, Alberto Agnelli 2, Serenella Nardi 3, Diego Pizzeghello 3, Maria J. Fernández‐Sanjurjo 4 and Giuseppe Corti 1 1 Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, 60131, Italy; [email protected] (S.C.); [email protected] (G.C.) 2 Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, 06121, Italy; [email protected] 3 Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and the Environment, Università degli Studi di Padova, Legnaro, 35020, Italy; [email protected] (S.N.); [email protected] (D.P.) 4 Department of Soil and Agronomic Chemistry, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, 27001, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39‐338‐599‐6867 Academic Editors: Adele Muscolo and Miroslava Mitrovic Received: 15 March 2017; Accepted: 19 April 2017; Published: 22 April 2017 Abstract: Physical and chemical soil properties are generally correlated with the parent material, as its composition may influence the pedogenetic processes, the content of nutrients, and the element biocycling. This research studied the chemical and biochemical properties of the A horizon from soils developed on different rocks like amphibolite, serpentinite, phyllite, and granite under a relatively similar climatic regime from Galicia (northwest Spain). In particular, the effect of the parent material on soil evolution, organic carbon sequestration, and the hormone‐like activity of humic and fulvic acids were tested. Results indicated that all the soils were scarcely fertile because of low concentrations of available P, exchangeable Ca (except for the soils on serpentinite and phyllite), and exchangeable K, but sequestered relevant quantities of organic carbon. -
Infiltration and Erosion in Soils Treated with Dry PAM, of Two Molecular Weights, and Phosphogypsum
CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/ajsr Australian Journal of Soil Research, 2009, 47, 788–795 Infiltration and erosion in soils treated with dry PAM, of two molecular weights, and phosphogypsum A. I. Mamedov A,D, I. Shainberg B, L. E. Wagner A, D. N. Warrington C, and G. J. Levy B AUSDA-ARS-NPA-GMPRC-EWERU, Manhattan, KS 66502, USA. BAgricultural Research Organisation, The Volcani Center, Institute of Soils and Water, PO Box 6, Bet-Dagan, Israel. CState Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, CAS & MWR, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China. DCorresponding author. Email: [email protected] Abstract. Soil surface application of dissolved linear polyacrylamide (PAM) of high molecular weight (MW) can mitigate seal formation, runoff, and erosion, especially when added with a source of electrolytes (e.g. gypsum). Practical difficulties associated with PAM solution application prohibited commercial use of PAM in dryland farming. An alternative practice of spreading dry granular PAM with high MW on the soil surface has been ineffective in reducing runoff while effectively reducing erosion. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which granular PAM (20 kg/ha), with moderate (2 Â 105 Da) or high (1.2 Â 107 Da) MW, mixed with phosphogypsum (PG) (4 Mg/ha) affects infiltration rate, runoff, and erosion. Five smectitic soils, treated with PAM and PG, were exposed to simulated rainfall of deionised water in the laboratory. Both dry PAMs, mixed with PG, increased final infiltration rate (3–5 times) and reduced erosion (2–4 times) relative to the control (no amendments). -
Transfer of Heavy Metals Through Terrestrial Food Webs: a Review
Gall, et al. 2015. Published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 187:201 Transfer of heavy metals through terrestrial food webs: areview Jillian E. Gall & Robert S. Boyd & Nishanta Rajakaruna Abstract Heavy metals are released into the environ- metal-tolerant insects, which occur in naturally high- ment by both anthropogenic and natural sources. Highly metal habitats (such as serpentine soils) and have adap- reactive and often toxic at low concentrations, they may tations that allow them to tolerate exposure to relatively enter soils and groundwater, bioaccumulate in food high concentrations of some heavy metals. Some webs, and adversely affect biota. Heavy metals also metallophyte plants are hyperaccumulators of certain may remain in the environment for years, posing long- heavy metals and new technologies using them to clean term risks to life well after point sources of heavy metal metal-contaminated soil (phytoextraction) may offer pollution have been removed. In this review, we compile economically attractive solutions to some metal pollu- studies of the community-level effects of heavy metal tion challenges. These new technologies provide incen- pollution, including heavy metal transfer from soils to tive to catalog and protect the unique biodiversity of plants, microbes, invertebrates, and to both small and habitats that have naturally high levels of heavy metals. large mammals (including humans). Many factors con- tribute to heavy metal accumulation in animals includ- Keywords Ecosystem health . Metal toxicity. Metal ing behavior, physiology, and diet. Biotic effects of hyperaccumulation . Bioaccumulation . Environmental heavy metals are often quite different for essential and pollution . Phytoremediation non-essential heavy metals, and vary depending on the specific metal involved.