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"soil formation"
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How do animals help make soil?
An introduction to the ways in which \"some animals break down dead plants to creat new soil, while others spread nutrients around\"--Page 4 of cover.
Book
Exploring the relationship between annual soil loss and formation rate in different land use scenarios using support vector machine (SVM) learning models in Tigray Highlands
Extensive soil degradation in the Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia, threatens agricultural sustainability. This study quantifies the critical imbalance between soil loss and formation in the severely affected Kola Embahasti Watershed. An integrated modeling approach was employed to assess the watershed’s soil budget. Soil erosion was estimated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), with the land use/land cover (LULC) C-factor classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model trained on field and satellite data (Sentinel-2B). Soil formation rates were calculated using the Arrhenius equation to model weathering processes. Statistical analysis was used to determine the relationship between erosion and formation rates. The results reveal a severe soil degradation, with a mean annual soil loss of 61.29 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
, far exceeding the mean soil formation rate of 2.45 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
. This yields a net annual soil loss of 58.84 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
, indicating an unsustainable rate of degradation. A strong negative relationship was found between soil loss and formation, heavily influenced by land cover. Bare land exhibited the highest erosion (94 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
) and lowest formation (0.98 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
), while dense forest demonstrated the lowest erosion (5.14 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
) and highest formation (4.9 t ha⁻
1
yr⁻
1
). The RUSLE model, physiochemical soil formation model, and SVM algorithm are integrated for innovative conservation action, recommending targeted interventions e.g., afforestation and sustainable land management.
Journal Article
An attempt to estimate tolerable soil erosion rates by matching soil formation with denudation in Alpine grasslands
Purpose
Natural rates of soil production or a target soil thickness that allows unrestricted land use can serve as a basis for defining tolerable soil erosion rates. Guidelines for tolerable soil erosion rates in alpine grasslands do not yet exist, partly due to the lack of information of soil formation and production rates. We (i) defined soil formation/production rates for alpine grasslands on siliceous lithology and compared them to measured and modelled soil erosion rates and resulting soil thickness with a special focus on the Urseren Valley (Central Swiss Alps) and (ii) discussed possible trends for alpine soils under global change.
Materials and methods
Ranges of soil formation, production and erosion rates were determined using published and our own data for Alpine grasslands soils. Two definitions of tolerable erosion rate were used: when (i) current soil depth remains constant over time; and (ii) at least a minimum soil depth is maintained (minimum thicknesses for individual land uses still need to be defined).
Results and discussion
Soil production and related tolerable erosion rates (i.e. 50–90 % of the soil production rate) are a strong function of time. Average soil production rate in alpine areas for relatively old soils (>10–18 kyr) is between 54 (±14) and 113 (±30) t km
−2
year
−1
, for young soils (>1–10 kyr) between 119 (±44) and 248 (±91) t km
−2
year
−1
and for very young soils (≤1 kyr) between 415 (±242) and 881 (±520) t km
−2
year
−1
. Measured recent soil erosion rates in alpine areas at intensively used slopes range from 600 to 3000 t km
−2
year
−1
. Average catchment values for the Urseren Valley using the model USLE plus soil loss due to landslides resulted in an overall loss of 180 t km
−2
year
−1
, which considerably exceeds production rates of the soils.
Conclusions
The comparison of soil production and erosion rates indicated unsustainable management of grassland soils in the Urseren Valley. Other Alpine regions report similar or even higher erosion rates. Consequently, attention has to be paid to Alpine grasslands used for agricultural purposes because today’s soil erosion rates often considerably exceed soil formation, thus resulting in very shallow soils. Future global change is likely to increase soil erosion rates even further.
Journal Article
Soil Formation on Loamy Deposits in Technogenic Landscapes of the Taiga Zone in the Northeast of the European Part of Russia
The formation of soils on loamy deposits during the primary succession of vegetation after biological reclamation of a technogenically disturbed area (quarry) in the middle taiga subzone of the northeast of European Russia (Komi Republic) is considered. The planting of
Picea obovata
on the reclaimed area activates the formation of the tree layer and helps to accelerate pedogenetic processes. In drained conditions, by the beginning of the third decade of succession, litter horizons were formed, soil bulk density in the upper mineral horizons decreased, and a tendency towards redistribution and differentiation of the clay fraction and iron and aluminum compounds in the soil profile was noted. The latter may indicate the beginning of eluviation. The heterogeneity of the quarry surface (presence of highs and lows with a height difference of up to 2–6 m) contributes to the redistribution of moisture within the quarry and the appearance of areas with surface waterlogging. Under these conditions, the role of conservation of organic residues (peat formation) is enhanced, and gleyzation processes are activated. With an increase in the degree of surface waterlogging of soils, the soil acidity and the stocks of soil carbon and nitrogen increase, which is typical for an analogous series of background soils. The calculated rate of organic carbon accumulation in the soil layer of 0–20 cm in drained soils of the quarry is about 0.4 t/ha per year. In the waterlogged soils, it increases to 1.0–1.2 t/ha per year. The stocks of organic carbon in the upper 20 cm of the profile of young soils remain two–four times lower in comparison with the background native soils.
Journal Article
Soil
\"Developed by literacy experts for students in kindergarten through grade three, this book introduces soil to young readers through leveled text and related photos\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Cyclicity and Fluidity of Soil Formation
It is shown that multilevel cycles of soil formation, defined by repeated changes in the amount of heat coming from the Sun to the Earth’s surface, create conditions for the multistage evolution of the soil cover in a certain direction. However, soil, with its plasticity due to stresses and deformations caused by various external and internal forces, exhibit processes of introduction and removal of soil material and pedoturbation that determine the flow of soils. This soil flow interrupts” the cycles of soil formation, rejuvenating the soil and slowing down the overall evolution of the soil cover or letting it go along an unpredictable path.
Journal Article
Random and Non-Random Factors of Soil Formation
All factors of soil formation can be divided into random ones, which the researcher cannot control when studying soils and ground cover, and non-random ones, which can be studied in detail assessing their contribution to the formation of soil of a particular taxonomic rank. The random soil-forming factors include cryogenic, fluvial, anthropogenic, migratory, denudation, erosion, and solifluction, while the non-random factors comprise climatogenic, biogenic (mainly phytogenic), lithogenic, and chronogenic ones. It is shown that an essential element of randomness is found in the course of erosion processes. However, the established significant methodology for predicting the magnitude of soil erosion and assessing the likelihood of expected damage from soil erosion makes it possible to minimize this random factor.
Journal Article