EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE

76 - 81

Authors: Khadijeh Salari Nik, Mohsen Nael, Ghasem Assadian, Ali Akbar Safari Sinegani, Soheila Javaheri Kha

Soil is an environmental component permanently changing due to the often cyclic processes of litter supply and vegetation cover. To investigate the influence of vegetation type on soil carbon fractions, six vegetation types, including rainfed wheat (RW), grasses (G), Astragallus–Bromus (A-B), Astragallus–lactuca (A-L), Astragallus–Artemisi (A-A), Astragallus–Euphorbia (A-E) were studied in similar environmental conditions in terms of parent material and slope aspect in Gonbad watershed, Hamadan. Total organic carbon (TOC), active carbon (AC), soil carbohydrates (Ch) and basal respiration (BR) were measured in surface soils (0-15 cm) in fall and spring. TOC, CH, and BR were significantly greater in A-B and A-A than other covers. A-B and A-A showed higher vegetation cover and litter compared to other types. TOC and Ch in RW and G were significantly lower than other types. The highest (711.7 mg/kg) and lowest (262.6 mg/kg) AC were observed in A-B and RW, respectively. RW had lowest values of selected soil quality indicators due to tillage and cultivation. The content of TOC and AC were significantly higher in spring than autumn. Amount of BR and Ch showed no significant difference in the two seasons. Significant positive correlations were observed between soil quality indicators, these correlations were stronger in spring than in autumn. In autumn, the highest correlations were observed between AC and Ch (0.701), as well as AC and BR (0.441). In spring, significant correlations were observed between all soil quality indicators at 1% level. It was concluded that AC and Ch are the most sensitive soil quality indicators that reflect land use and vegetation type differences.

88 - 93

Authors: Lin Tang, Shikui Dong, Shiliang Liu, Xuexia Wang, Yuanyuan Li, Xukun Su, Yong Zhang, Xiaoyu Wu, Haidi Zhao

Through a large-scale research, we examined the heterogeneity of soil properties and plant diversity, as well as their relationships across alpine grassland types on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The soil pH and EC value increased with the constant deepening of the soil in all the three alpine grassland types which in order of absolute value in every soil layer were alpine desert steppe, alpine steppe and alpine meadow. Among the three grassland types, the alpine meadow possessed the highest SM but the lowest SBD. For plant diversity, alpine meadow was the highest, alpine desert steppe ranked the second and alpine steppe was the last. SM and SBD were the highest influential soil physical properties to species richness, but with opposite effects.

100 - 106

Authors: Marlena Yaneva, Tsveta Stanimirova, Rositsa Kenderova

The present study aims to compare mineralogical composition of red soils, formed on marbles in South Bulgaria. We used mineralogical analysis of heavy and light mineral fraction in immersion under polarizing microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis of bulk sample and clay fraction. Three test polygons, located in South Bulgaria were examined: Petrovo, Nova Lovcha and Dobrostan, which are characterized with different latitude, altitude, and exposition. Three or more sites from each polygon were sampled and analyzed. The red soils are formed on white and gray calcite and calcite-dolomite marbles, impure silicate-rich marbles and only in one site – on marble breccias. We determined the following mineral phases in red soils: calcite, dolomite, quarts, and feldspars, mica, illite-type mica, illite, smectite, vermiculite-smectite, and kaolinite. Heavy minerals are represented by amphibole, titanite and epidote, and minor amounts of zircon, garnet, tourmaline, rutile, pyroxene, andalusite, kyanite, sillimanite and apatite. Opaque minerals are predominantly goethite and hematite. Plant tissue is abundant in light fraction from the uppermost soil horizons. Analyses of heavy mineral fraction show presence of metamorphic and igneous minerals which indicate participation of weathering products from other rock types in the nearby area. The types of heavy minerals in soils depend more on composition of parent rocks and geomorphic position than on climate type. Soils from Nova Lovcha show similar composition, but the quantity of goethite and hematite significantly increase in soil from plain. Typical high-metamorphic minerals as andalusite, kyanite and sillimanite present only in Nova Lovcha, while garnet dominates in Petrovo and opaque minerals - in Dobrostan. Red soils, formed on slopes, where erosion prevails over accumulation, contain more illite, smectite and vermiculite-smectite, and very few or no kaolinite, whereas the kaolinite is dominant in soils formed on plain. The mineralogical composition of clays in different polygons depends on geomorphic position (altitude, slope or plain), and less on climate type. The weathering processes in the highest polygon Dobrostan (more than 1200 m) are in early stage (illite, vermiculite-smectite, and smectite), whereas in Nova Lovcha (above 700-900 m) and Petrovo (1000 m) the domination of kaolinite suggests an advanced weathering processes.

111 - 117

Authors: Maria Manuela Carvalho, Maria Cristina Vila, Fernanda Rohden, Mónica Rosas, Joana Dias, Teresa Oliva-Teles, Anthony Danko, Cristina Delerue-Matos, António Fiuza

The increasing use of biofuels as additives to gasoline may have potential indirect effects on the efficiency of soil remediation technologies used to remediate fuel spills. This problem has not yet been studied. Sorption is one of the controlling processes in soil remediation. The effect of biofuels on sorption and phase distribution of contaminants by different natural soils has not been reported on the literature. The present work examines how two different biofuels, n-butanol and soybean biodiesel, affect benzene sorption in two naturally occurring subsoils (granite and limestone). Sorption isotherms were made with soils deliberately contaminated with benzene, benzene and n-butanol and benzene plus biodiesel, using lab-scale reactors operated at constant temperature, each one loaded with 700 grams of wet sterilized soil. For each type of soil, five isotherms were determined corresponding to different contamination profiles. It was concluded that sorption was strongly affected by the nature of the soil. The partition of benzene into the different phases of the soil was significantly affected by the presence of biofuels. The experimental data was fitted to conventional sorption models, Freundlich, Langmuir and a second order polynomial. Model parameters were determined using a non-linear least squares (NLLS) optimization algorithm and showed a good agreement between experimental and fitted data.

126 - 136

Authors: Rachid Khatem, Real Ojeda Miguel, Abdellah Bakhti

The removal of diclofenac by sorption on a synthetic hydrotalcite and on its calcined product was investigated. The solid [Mg-Al-CO3], prepared by cooprecipitation at constant pH, its calcined mixed oxide was obtained; both solid were characterized by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The interaction of these materials with diclofenac shows that the kinetics of sorption was fast and followed the second order model. The effects on the diclofenac concentration, sorbent concentration and temperature were studied. The sorption capacity of the calcined hydrotalcite was close to 1.9 mmole g-1, which represents only 66% of the AEC, but at the concentrations measured that amount represents up 95% of the diclofenac present in solution in the case of HT-C. This suggests that, particularly HT-C could to constitute interesting adsorbent for the removal of diclofenac. Recycling by restitution and calcination-rebuilding should support the recovery of this pollutant.