Afforestation is a prevalent practice carried out for soil recovery and carbon sequestration. Improved understanding of the effects of afforestation on soil organic carbon (SOC) content and dynamics is necessary to identify the particular processes of soil organic matter (SOM) formation and/or decomposition that result from afforestation. To elucidate these mechanisms, we have used a sequential...

soil erosion by water is the main factor of land degradation, particularly in semi-arid regions where soil productivity is usually low and lowering soil quality can severely decrease crops yields. this study was done in an area of 900 km2 in the semi-arid agricultural region of hashtroud in northwestern iran to determine the relationship between soil productivity and soil erodibility. wheat gra...

Background: Health hazards associated with exposure due to the natural radioactivity which is a part of our physical environment are of great concern. In order to assess the risks associated with exposure due to the natural radioactivity in soil and building materials, extensive studies have been carried out all over the world. The most commonly encountered radionuclide’s are 238U, 2...

This study addresses the tillage effect on the distribution of bacterial biomass and their community structure in a subtropical purple rice soil ecosystem. Similar distribution patterns of soil bacterial biomass within water-stable aggregates (WSA) were observed under different tillage managements. Although the distribution pattern of soil microbial biomass was not changed by tillage practice, ...

the influence of lime on the shear strength of soil has been known for centuries. the conventional method to increase the lime content of a soil is to add less than 10% hydrated lime in the form of powder or grout to the soil. this method is convenient for soils to be used as fill material in projects such as road construction, land fill pavements or lime pile; but is not applicable where a lar...

To explore soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation mechanisms, the dynamics of C functional groups and macroaggregation were studied synchronously through aggregate fractionation and (13)C NMR spectroscopy in sandy loam soil following an 18-year application of compost and fertilizer in China. Compared with no fertilizer control, both compost and fertilizer improved SOC content, while the applica...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of biochar amendment on soil aggregate formation and stability, and soil hydraulic properties. Biochar produced from dairy manure was added to two different soils (a silty clay and a sandy loam soil) at a ratio of 2% (w/w in dry weight basis). Incubation experiments were conducted within a 90-d period with the soils (the controls) and the soi...

Pore space study has been utilized as a general method for defining soil structures. This is because the characteristics particular to pore space impact the majority of physical and physicochemical soil parameters relevant due to plant growth. This paper presents an image segmentation approach for detecting the soil pore structures that have been studied by way of soil tomography sections. In s...