Digging by gophers disturbs near-surface soils, deposits sediment in mounds and “eskers” in non-uniform surface patterns, and affects surface penetrability of soils at alpine treeline. Soil samples were collected and soil compaction was measured at three sites in the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado, to determine the effects of gophers on surface compaction a...

Abstract. The reflectance spectra of the soil samples are influenced by soil particle size. Elimination of this effect requires a calibration model to remove the effect of soil particle size. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of soil particle size on reflectance spectra of sandy soil samples and to produce a particle size calibration model for the spectra of a sandy soil sa...

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of soil moisture content on the absorbance spectra of sandy soils with different phosphorus (P) concentrations using ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), and near-infrared (NIR) absorbance spectroscopy. Sieve sizes were 125, 250, and 600 m for fine, medium, and coarse, respectively. The medium size of the samples was used for the study. Investigat...

Soil microbial biomass plays an important role in nutrient transformation in terrestrial ecosystems. Microbial biomass is also an early indicator of changes in total soil organic carbon. Thus, the main objective of this study was to identify and quantify the present status of soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen with various management practices in Himalayan rangeland. To meet the aforeme...

Ž . A calibrated Four-Electrode Probe FEP was used for inexpensive and indirect determinations Ž . of salinity-sensor Electrical Conductivity EC in a plot at Cauto Valley, Cuba. Two transects Ž . Ž . were made in the North–South N–S and East–West E–W directions. Laboratory measurements of soil EC were also made from samples taken on a 50-m spaced square grid. A linear semivariogram was obtained...

The influence of sample size on the magnitude and variability of soil denitrification was studied by collecting soil cores, ranging in size from 1.7 to 5.4 cm in diameter, from no-till and conventionaltill corn plots. Estimates of natural denitrification rates were obtained by incubating intact soil cores with C2H2 and monitoring gaseous N2O production. In addition, maximum denitrification pote...

The geogrid-reinforced soil structures play important roles in the reinforcement applications since 1980s. Generally in design of the geogrid-reinforced soil structures, the soil-geogrid interaction behavior is not directly considered. Instead, the interaction strength is represented by the consolidation drained strength of soil commonly. However, neglecting the effect of compaction and suction...

In this study the characteristics and extent of the smear zone are investigated using a large, undisturbed sample. The aim of using such a sample is to capture the realistic characteristics of the smear zone in relation to the in situ soil structure during the installation of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) using a mandrel. The extent of the smear zone for Bulli clay (New South Wales, Aust...

Monitoring changes in soil C has recently received interest due to reporting under the Kyoto Protocol. Model-based approaches to estimate changes in soil C stocks exist, but they cannot fully replace repeated measurements. Measuring changes in soil C is laborious due to small expected changes and large spatial variation. Stratification of soil sampling allows the reduction of sample size withou...