Soil and Water Research, 2022 (vol. 17), issue 2

Predictors for digital mapping of forest soil organic carbon stocks in different types of landscapeOriginal Paper

Luboš Borůvka, Radim Vašát, Vít Šrámek, Kateřina Neudertová Hellebrandová, Věra Fadrhonsová, Milan Sáňka, Lenka Pavlů, Ondřej Sáňka, Oldřich Vacek, Karel Němeček, Shahin Nozari, Vincent Yaw Oppong Sarkodie

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):69-79 | DOI: 10.17221/4/2022-SWR  

Forest soils have a high potential to store carbon and thus mitigate climate change. The information on spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is thus very important. This study aims to analyse the importance of environmental predictors for forest SOC stock prediction at the regional and national scale in the Czech Republic. A big database of forest soil data for more than 7 000 sites was compiled from several surveys. SOC stocks were calculated from SOC content and bulk density for the topsoil mineral layer 0-30 cm. Spatial prediction models were developed separately for individual natural forest areas and for four subsets with different...

Risk associated with occurrence of toxic elements in the environment surrounding landfills in An Giang Province, VietnamOriginal Paper

Nguyen Thanh Giao, Vo Quang Minh

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):80-90 | DOI: 10.17221/111/2021-SWR  

The study aimed to evaluate the concentration of potentially toxic elements in the soil samples of landfill sites in An Giang province. Eighty-eight soil samples were collected from five landfills. The potentially toxic elements including Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, and As were analysed and compared with the National technical regulations on the allowable limits of heavy metals in the soils. A cluster analysis was applied to identify the sampling sites with similar soil toxic elements properties. The ecological potential risk index was used to determine the risk of the landfills to the ecosystem. The results showed that four out of five potentially toxic elements...

Causes clarification of the soil aggregates stability on mulched soilOriginal Paper

Saven Thai, Tomáš Davídek, Lenka Pavlů

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):91-99 | DOI: 10.17221/151/2021-SWR  

Soil aggregates have great effects on soil properties and soil functions. Mulching (organic inputs) has been known as a factor influencing soil aggregate stability. Our study aimed to reveal the causes of the higher stability of soil aggregates under organic mulches. The primary soil characteristics such as organic carbon (Cox), humus quality (E4/E6), potential wettability index (PWI), and aromaticity index (iAR) were determined. The Cox was measured using rapid dichromate oxidation, and E4/E6 was measured using the UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The PWI and iAR were determined according to the intensity of selected bands in diffuse reflectance infrared...

Comparison of chromium mobility at naturally enriched and anthropogenically polluted sites: A column leaching experimentOriginal Paper

Julie Dajčl, Václav Tejnecký, Karel Němeček, Luboš Borůvka, Petr Drahota, Ondřej Drábek

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):100-112 | DOI: 10.17221/129/2021-SWR  

This study aims to compare the chromium (Cr) mobility in two soils with different Cr sources. The first one is an anthropogenically contaminated soil from an area of a piston ring production factory, and the second one is a serpentine soil with a naturally increased Cr level from the National Nature Reserve Mohelno serpentine steppe in the Czech Republic. To assess the influence of naturally occurring environmental factors on the Cr mobility, two sets of column leaching experiments were constructed, namely an acidified water treatment (AW) and a simulated root exudate treatment (SRE). It was found that the anthropogenically contaminated soil leached...

Thermal properties of Cambisols in mountain regions under different vegetation coversOriginal Paper

Katerina Doneva, Milena Kercheva, Emil Dimitrov, Emiliya Velizarova, Maria Glushkova

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):113-122 | DOI: 10.17221/94/2021-SWR  

Soil thermal properties regulate the thermal and water balance and influence the soil temperature distribution. The aim of the current study is to present data on the changes in the thermal properties of Cambisols at different ratios between the water content and the air in the pore space under different vegetation covers in mountain regions. The undisturbed soil samples were taken from the surface soil layers under grassland, deciduous and coniferous forests in three experimental stations of the Forest Research Institute - Gabra in Lozen Mountain, Govedartsi in Rila Mountain and Igralishte in Maleshevska Mountain. The soil thermal conductivity (λ),...

The coupling of hillslope- and gully-erosion increases their controlling efforts: A case study in Liaoning Province, ChinaOriginal Paper

Xiangguo Fan, Haoming Fan, Shuang Dong

Soil & Water Res., 2022, 17(2):123-137 | DOI: 10.17221/106/2021-SWR  

The widespread hillslope- and gully-erosion in Liaoning Province of Northeast China, pose serious challenges to the local agricultural production. Hillslope- and gully-erosion have typically been studied separately; however, there has been little investigation on the relationship of these two types of erosion. In this study, the coupling relationship of the hillslope- and gully-erosion from the perspectives of erosion intensity and land use, as well as the slope gradient, aspect, and shape, was analysed. The study employed remote sensing and geographic information system techniques, and the universal soil loss equation and kriging were used to perform...