The minerals from which a soil is formed partly determine whether it is acid or alkaline. Soils formed from acidic rocks have a lower pH than those formed from basic rocks or alkaline parent material. Rainfall affects soil acidity development by leaching basic elements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium from the soil profile, leaving the acidic elements: hydrogen, aluminum and ma...

Soil is an important, dynamic component of regional and global mercury (Hg) cycles. This study evaluated how changes in forest soil Hg masses caused by atmospheric deposition and wildfire are affected by forest structure. Pre and postfire soil Hg measurements were made over two decades on replicate experimental units of three prefire forest structures (mature unthinned, mature thinned, clear-cu...

Runoff, soil loss, sediment concentration, and particle size distribution of sediment eroded by runoff events were measured between 1976 and 2000 from 5 small agricultural watersheds on Vertisols at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India. The effects of storm size and land management system on total soil loss and size distribution of sediment during runoff are discussed. At the beginning of runoff e...

Interest in bioenergy is growing across the Western world in response to mounting concerns about climate change. There is a risk of depletion of soil carbon stocks in biomass production systems, because a higher proportion of the organic matter and nutrients are removed from the site, compared with conventional agricultural and forestry systems. This paper reviews the factors that influence soi...

Pyrogenic carbon (PyC) constitutes an important pool of soil organic matter (SOM), particularly for its reactivity and because of its assumed long residence times in soil. In the past, research on the dynamics of PyC in the soil system has focused on quantifying stock and mean residence time (MRT) of PyC in soil, as well as determining both PyC stabilization mechanisms and loss pathways. Much o...

Fertilized black soil samples are prepared by mixing desired amounts of fertilizers in the black soils having 10% gravimetric moisture content. Two black soil samples were collected from two different locations of Maharashtra State (India). Three different chemical fertilizers viz., Urea, Di-Ammonium Phosphate and Potash are used. Measurements of complex dielectric constants of these soil sampl...

Determination of soil constituents and structure has a vital role in agriculture generally. Methods for the determination of soil carbon have in particular gained greater currency in recent times because of the potential that soils offer in providing offsets for greenhouse gas (CO2-equivalent) emissions. Ideally, soil carbon which can also be quite diverse in its makeup and origin, should be me...

The roles of NH.-N diffusion, NH.-N oxidation, NO3-N diffusion, and NO3-N reduction in controlling N loss from continuously flooded soil were evaluated in independent experiments. Applied NH,-N moved from zones of high NH4-N concentration to the zones of low NH4-N concentration. The average diffusion coefficient (D) for NH.-N in flooded soil ranged from 0.059 to 0.216 cm" day for different soil...

Soil erosion coupled with productivity decline is considered a major constraint to sustainable vegetable production in Southeast Asian steeplands, yet soil conservation technologies acceptable to vegetable growers have not been developed. Effectiveness of high-value contour hedgerows species [(Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.), pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.), pigeon peas (Cajanus caja...