1,721,036 research outputs found
Extraterrestrial soils
Full text linkExtraterrestrial soils may be defined as any of the solid granular crustal features of planets and moon other than those soils on planet Earth. Despite four decades of space exploration, which greatly expanded our understanding of the Solar System, there is considerable debate as to the loose covers of rocky planets and moons are soils in a pedological sense. On Earth, soil form thanks to the combined action of at least five factors: parent rock, climate, topography, living organisms and time.
A few other factors can concur to drive pedogenesis. However, the necessity of biota as unavoidable soil forming factor is debated. In fact, important parts of Earth, such as the hyperarid Atacama Desert of Chile and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, host virtually life-free soils with advanced horizonation. Actually, although most people invokes the ability to support plant growth in its natural environment as condicio sine qua non for soil, a scientific definition considers soil to be any in situ weathered veneer of a planetary surface that retains information on its climatic and geochemical history. A current or past mineral weathering is hence the pivotal requisite for soil
War is undermining soil health and availability more than urbanisation
No full textEver since the Earth has witnessed the dawn of mankind it has had to deal with conflicts and their consequences. The number of ongoing conflicts continues to increase year by year, as does the power of the weapons at stake. Consequently, also increasing is the impact of warfare on the total environment, which is already in crisis due to climate change and exponential population growth. Although now emphasis is mostly given to the necessity that the urban sprawl and the operation of companies causing planetary harm should be carefully regulated, by collating up-to-date data on the size of the footprint of various human activities, here we show that warfare is undermining soil health and availability for productive use much more than urbanisation and other infrastructures have hitherto done. This means that modern, wide-ranging conflicts are no longer bearable from an environmental point of view – as well as from the ethical, social, and economic ones – and this should be an additional, primary reason to prompt the international community to discourage or stop them as far as possible with tireless mediation
Soils: Basic Concepts and Future Challenges
No full textThis book was born as an international tribute to Fiorenzo C. Ugolini, an outstanding soil scientist who recently retired from university teaching and research. It is a fully up-to-date synthesis of the present knowledge of soils, their genesis, functions and management, and includes contributions from leading soil scientists. It provides the basic concepts as well as the latest data and practical examples from across the discipline. The book also discusses the increasingly important role of soils in enabling the preservation of life and contains a rare attempt to cross-harmonize the Soil Groups of the World Reference Base of Soil Resources with the Orders of the Soil Taxonomy. It also considers the possible existence of extraterrestrial soils based on the findings from the last space missions. This volume will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of soil science, soil conservation, geography and landscape ecology
Is the Anthropocene really worthy of a formal geologic definition?
No full textScientists are actively debating whether the Anthropocene, the geologic time span (GTS) we are now living in, should be considered a period, epoch, or age in the geologic timescale. The solution is not easy, because the beginning of this GTS is undefined and the end unknown. In fact, there is no agreement on when the Anthropocene began, the proposed dates ranging from the Second World War, when radioactive fallout branded soils and sediments all over the world, to little after the end of the last glacial period, i.e. 11.7 thousand years ago, therefore coinciding with the onset of the Holocene. We are in favour of a concurrence of the Anthropocene with the Holocene, although a major impact of people on the environment began diachronically in different parts of the world. This single GTS should be named Anthropocene because it is chiefly characterized by a peculiar process of change for the planet: human impact. Nevertheless, a pivotal hindrance for the Anthropocene to be worthy of a formal geologic definition remains. The Anthropocene is open ended, therefore its real duration is unknown
Anthropogenic soils are the golden spikes for the Anthropocene
No full textWe propose that the Anthropocene be defined as the last c. 2000 years of the late Holocene and characterized on the basis of anthropogenic soils. This contrasts with the original definition of the Anthropocene as the last c. 250 years (since the Industrial Revolution) and more recent proposals that the Anthropocene began some 5000 to 8000 years ago in the early to mid Holocene (the early-Anthropocene hypothesis). Anthropogenic soil horizons, of which several types are recognized, provide extensive terrestrial stratigraphic markers for defining the start of the Anthropocene. The pedosphere is regarded as the best indicator of the rise to dominance of human impacts on the total environment because it reflects strongly the growing impact of early civilisations over much of the Earth’s surface. Hence, the composition of anthropogenic soils is deemed more appropriate than atmospheric composition in providing ‘golden spikes’ for the Anthropocene
Pedogenesis in the sorted patterned ground of Devon Plateau, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada
Full text linkVertical trends of oxalates concentration in two soil under Abies alba from Tuscany (Italy)
No full textInfluenza reciproca tra suolo e specie forestali. I casi dell’abete bianco e del pino laricio
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