Use of soil horizons for assessing soil degradation and reconstructing chronology of degradation processes: the case of Mwisanga Catchment, Kondoa, central Tanzania

This paper analyses the use of soil horizons for mapping soil degradation intensity and reconstructing chronology of degradation processes. Through “Pedogenetic Baseline Approach”, the catchment was classified into two categories: the erosional and depositional zones. The eroded soils were reconstructed even in those areas where there had been total soil stripping. Profiles of the undegraded soil provided a reference mark (particularly the argillic B horizon of Lixisols). One specific criterion for determining the degree of soil degradation of a given map unit in the erosional zone was based on whether A or B horizons or both had been eroded. Another criterion for classifying the units in the depositional zone was based on relating the quality of the buried soil with the overlying young soil developed from the colluvium/alluvium. Hence, the study underscores the importance of being able to reconstruct soil properties of pre-eroded soil profiles with the view to determining erosion units. This will eventually help in developing appropriate land use and conservation strategies.     

Interaction between aggrading geomorphic surfaces and the formation of a late pleistocene paleosol in the palouse loess of eastern Washington state

Variable rates of loess deposition contributed to dramatic regional variation in a soil-stratigraphic unit, the Washtucna Soil, in the Palouse loess deposits in the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington state. Throughout most of the Channeled Scabland, the morphology of the Washtucna Soil is that of a single buried soil, but it bifurcates into two well-developed and pedologically distinct buried soils in areas immediately downwind of the major source of loessial sediment. Regional loess stratigraphy confirms that the two well-developed soils formed during the same interval of time during which only one soil formed in areas that are distal to loess source areas. The variable and perhaps rapid rates of soil formation suggested by the stratigraphy resulted from an interaction between variable rates of loess deposition and the formation of superimposed calcic soils. Petrocalcic horizons with weak Stage IV morphology formed as the zone of carbonate accumulation moved up into former A and cambic horizons that had been profusely burrowed by cicadas. The development of cicada burrows in one phase of soil development that were subsequently engulfed by pedogenic carbonate under a rising land surface seems to have greatly accelerated the development of the petrocalcic horizons. Accelerated rates of formation of the petrocalcic horizons occurred when extrinsic (pulses of loess deposition) and intrinsic (engulfment of burrowed horizons) thresholds were exceeded. Stratigraphic evidence suggests that the soil formation that accompanied the rise in the land surface due to additional loess deposition may have occurred during the late Wisconsin glaciation when giant glacial outburst floods in the channeled Scabland triggered a new cycle of loess deposition.     

PEDOGENESIS IN LATE PREHISTORIC INDIAN MOUNDS,UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

Inceptisols are developed on silt loam, loam, and sandy loam Indian mounds at the Keller Mound Group and Bluff Top Mound in northeastern Iowa. The mounds date to the Allamakee Phase of the Late Woodland Period (ca. 1650–1250 B.P.) and are built with fill obtained from the A, E, and upper B horizons of pre-existing soils (Alfisols). Differences in the morphologic and chemical characteristics of soils on different mounds are attributed to textural differences of the mounds' fill. Coarse-textured mound fill is pedogenically altered at a faster rate than fine-textured fill, but total carbon percentage of the A horizon attains a steady state faster in fine-textured mound fill. Total phosphorus content is used to determine from which horizons of pre-existing soils the specific layers of mound fill originated. Rates and pathways of pedogenesis in mound fill may not provide good analogues for the early stages of soil development in materials that have not undergone previous weathering and subsequent modification by humans. Nevertheless, mound soils are useful benchmarks for some pedologic studies since they provide time lines for evaluating minimum rates for development of argillic and albic horizons, as well as attainment of the Alfisol order.     

Buried humus horizons of flooded soils of the Selenga river delta

Presented are the results derived from investigating the buried humus horizons in flooded soils of the Selenga delta. A study of the morphology, chemical properties and composition of soil humus showed that the buried horizons are the product of evolution of soil cover across the territory which serve as filtrates of substances.     

Soils and landscape evolution of eolian plains: the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico

Sheets of eolian sediment cover many areas of the earth's surface, sand seas, dune fields, and loess sheets being the best known examples of such features. Less well known are deposits of sandy, eolian sediment forming extensive plains. An excellent example of such a region is the semi-arid Southern High Plains (northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico). The level landscape of the area was created by deposition of multiple, extensive (≈ 80,000 km²) sheets of eolian sediment (Blackwater Draw Formation) over the past 1.4+ Ma. This deposit grades from sandy (southwest) to silty and clayey (northeast) and is up to 27 m thick. Surface soils (at least 30,000 and possibly 120,000 years old) are well developed (5YR hues, agrillic horizons, 1–2m thick with prismatic structure, Stage II–III calcic horizons) and are generally Paleustolls and Paleustalfs, with some Paleargids and Haplargids. Morphologic variation is due mainly to textural variation of the eolian parent material, although locally thickness of the parent material and wind erosion and cumulization are important factors, and locally slight variation in effective precipitation may be significant. The Blackwater Draw Formation contains as many as six well-developed buried soils, each formed in individual layers of eolian sediment, similar to or more strongly expressed (2.5YR hues, higher illuvial clay content) than the regional surface soils. The presence of the buried soils indicates that sedimentation was episodic and separated by long periods of relative landscape stability. Eolian processes also appear to have been important during the periods of stability and pedoenesis by providing clayey, calcareous dust that was added to the soil, promoting formation of the argillic and calcic horizons. The sedimentologic and pedologic uniformity of the deposit suggests that the regional environment has not varied significantly during the Quaternary except for periods of increased sedimentation or wind deflation. Underlying the Blackwater Draw Formation is an Upper Tertiary deposit (up to 36 m thick) of eolian sand, silt, and clay (Ogallala Formation). This deposit contains buried soils very similar to those in the Blackwater Draw Formation, suggesting that the geomorphic processes that created the Quaternary landscape of the Southern High Plains began to operate in the late Tertiary, perhaps as much as 11 million years ago.     

ALPINE AND SUBALPINE SOIL PROPERTIES AS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

This paper discusses the use of soils as indicators of environmental change in the alpine and sub-alpine zones of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Textural, miner-alogical, and chemical properties of soils developed on Quaternary glacial moraines are examined. A clear discontinuity in soil properties is observed between surface and subsurface horizons. Surface horizons are commonly finer grained and less strongly weathered than subsurface horizons. The soil-property discontinuity is interpreted to be a reflection of parent-material change. Surface horizons are interpreted to have developed in eolian sediments, while subsurface horizons have developed in glacial till. The duplex soils are believed to reflect alternating changes from cold moist climates and glacial advance to cold dry climates and loess deposition. [Key words: alpine soils, alpine weathering, alpine loess, climate change.]     

Geomorphological Holocene events as deduced from lithological records of the fluvial basins of Dauria

A conjugate analysis of the processes of morphogenesis and sedimentation within small fluvial basins of Dauria revealed a rhythmic character of change of the Holocene processes which are combined into cycles of a different hierarchical level. It is shown that each cycle begins with an extreme phase of intense fluvial drift and delivery of matter from the system. The fluvial horizons comprise the lower part of deposits of the Holocene macrocycle in the Vesnyanka pad’ (a valley without a permanent watercourse). A disastrous fluvial drift was recorded repeatedly for the period 7–8.5 cal. ka and at the transition time from the Atlantic to Subboreal time. A normal zonal phase of integration of matter within the basins is exhibited by buried humus horizons of soils which give clear evidence of 1800-year cycles. A regional development in Dauria is recorded for the soils with the age of about 8, 6.4 and 4.6 as well as 1.2–1.4 cal. ka. The upper part of the deposits of each cycle is characterized by aeolian horizons of extreme arid phases. The profiles of proluvial trails are indicative of 130-year cycles. Based on results from studying buried soils, data of pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of the deposits, we determined an enhancement in climate aridization for the last 10 ka and, in general, a decreased of the sedimentation and morphogenesis rate.     

土壤盐渍化遥感应用研究进展

文章从地面数据的调查、盐渍土影象的目视判读特征、光谱特征和土壤盐渍化区域的植被特征以及多光谱、高光谱遥感技术等方面综述国内外应用遥感数据探测土壤盐渍化程度及其制图的研究。利用数字图象并结合野外调查数据进行目视解译和计算机自动解译、图象变换提取盐渍土信息;结合G IS方法在分类中加入非遥感数据来提高分类精度;在研究盐渍土的光谱特征的基础上应用高光谱技术定量或半定量地提取盐渍土信息。这都是制定综合治理措施、决定土地利用方向的关键,也是进行区域土壤盐渍化动态预报的重要依据。     

Channel metamorphosis, floodplain disturbance, and vegetation development: Ain River, France

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain channel metamorphosis of the Ain River in east-central France and the effects of this metamorphosis on floodplain disturbance and vegetation development. The Ain River is a 195 km long stream originating in the Jura Mountains which flows into the Rhône River between Lyon, France, and Geneva, Switzerland. The lower 40 km of the Ain River, beyond the mountain front, are situated in a valley of outwash deposits where the floodplain is 0.2 to 1.2 km wide. A complex mosaic of floodplain landscape units has developed. Maps dating back to 1766 and six sets of aerial photographs dated between 1945 and 1991 were used to document changes in channel pattern. Aerial photos and field surveys were used to compile maps of landscape units based on dominant vegetation life-forms, species, and substrate. Six maps dated between 1945 and 1991 were digitized in ARC/INFO and an overlay was generated to determine the changes in landscape units as related to channel disturbance. Change from a braided to a single-thread meandering channel probably took place in the period 1930–1950. The process of river entrenchment has occurred throughout the Holocene but has accelerated in the present century due to shortening of the river course, construction of lateral embankments, and vegetation encroachment following reservoir construction and cessation of wood-cutting and grazing. The increase in horizontal channel stability coupled with channel entrenchment have decreased floodplain disturbance and lowered the water table by approximately one meter. Pioneer and disturbance-dependent landscape units have experienced a more terrestrial-like succession to an alluvial forest. Abandoned channels have also been replaced by alluvial forests. On poorly drained soils, shrub-swamp communities of willow and hydrophytic herbaceous plants have been replaced by mixed forests of ash, alder, black poplar, and oak. On well drained alluvial soils, ash and oak dominated hardwood forests have declined in favor of mesophytic stands of black poplar. All types of vegetation, but particularly dry grasslands-shrublands, have been cleared for mines, campgrounds, agriculture, and other types of development. Using several measures, landscape diversity decreased between 1945 and 1991.     

黄土中古土壤淀积类型

作者在西安附近发现了第１、４层古土壤的双层淀积和第５、８层古土壤多层淀积现象。资料表明，双层淀积、多层淀积和厚度异常大的ＣａＣＯ３淀积层是土壤具多元发生过程或受后期淋溶的产物，它们常代表两个或两个以上的成壤期。第１层古土壤下部的两层结构均不属古土壤组合部分，该层土壤为中、酸性森林土壤。第８层古土壤特殊的厚层淀积代表了气候的多次变化和多个成壤期。第４、５层古土壤具不连续ＣａＣＯ３和Ｆｅ２Ｏ３、Ａｌ２     

Properties of a 5500-year-old flood-plain in the Loup River Basin, Nebraska

Flood-plain aggradation within the Loup River Basin of central Nebraska was episodic and alternated with incision throughout much of the Holocene. A widespread episode of flood-plain stability, however, occurred about 5700–5100 cal. year BP. The purpose of this paper is to describe the properties of this buried flood-plain at six sites in the basin, to consider why the properties of the buried flood-plain vary from site to site, and to evaluate possible reasons why the Loup River flood-plains stabilized 5500 years ago. Episodic valley-bottom aggradation was common during flood-plain formation at five of the six sites. The radiocarbon ages, particle-size data, and organic-carbon data for the buried flood-plain reveal that valley-bottom aggradation generally slowed between about 5700 and 5100 cal. year BP. Erratic down-profile changes in percentages of sand, clay, and organic matter indicate flood-plain sedimentation and soil formation were often episodic. Sand and clay rarely show a steady fining-upward trend. Organic matter fluctuates with depth; at some sites multiple, incipient A horizons were buried during waning valley-bottom aggradation. At two localities, the buried flood-plain is evident as a clay-rich stratum that must have been deposited in a paleochannel. Flood-plain stabilization between 5700 and 5100 cal. year BP probably occurred in response to the effects of external climate forcing on vegetation and hydrologic changes. Flood-plains of other rivers in the central Great Plains also stabilized at this time, further supporting a climatic explanation for slowing of valley aggradation and formation of a flood-plain at this time. Recognition of buried flood-plains is important to both soil mapping in valleys and to the discovery of cultural resources in valleys.     

跨国公司在开发区的投资模式及区域影响

跨国公司主导的全球化力量是影响地区发展的重要因素。本研究以跨国公司在我国开发区的投资为例,分析了跨国公司全球生产体系与地方生产体系链接的过程与方式。文中将其概括为滚动式、结盟式、跟随式等三种模式。不同的投资模式对地区经济发展的影响程度不同。总体而言,跨国公司通过在中国开发区的投资强化了其全球生产网络,但与地方生产体系的联系有待于强化。这要求地方在推动开发区发展的同时,要积极发展自己富有活力的生产体系,在更高层次上实现与跨国公司网络的对接。     

土壤碳通量--深土层的长期吸收

1IntroductionEarth'satmosphereisbeingsignificantlyalteredbyhumanactivities.Fossilfueluseandland-usechangesaredrivingtheongoing,rapidriseinatmosphericCO2andotherso-calledgreenhousegases.Concernsaboutthepotentialeffectsonregionalandglobalclimatemotivatethis…     

Carbon fluxes in soil: long-term sequestration in deeper soil horizons

Terrestrial ecosystems represent the second largest carbon reservoir, and the C balance in terrestrial ecosystems can be directly impacted by human activities such as agricultural management practices and land-use changes. This paper focuses on the C-sequestration in soil. Although many studies showed that the concentration of SOC is much higher in the shallow soils (0-30 cm), the deeper horizons represent a much greater mass of soil and represent a huge C-storage pool. The process of preferential retention of more strongly adsorbing components, along with competitive displacement of weakly binding components are the key processes that enhance the movement of organic carbon to deeper soil horizons. DOC represents the most dynamic part of organic carbon in soils, and thus can be used as a timely indicator of the short-term change of C-sequestration. Long-term experiments have demonstrated that higher SOC levels in shallow soils would lead to increased fluxes of DOC to deeper horizons, but more data on a wider range of soils and treatment strategies are needed to fully evaluate the linkages between changes in SOC in shallow soil, vertical fluxes of DOC to deeper soil horizons, and enhanced C-inventories in deeper, slow-turnover SOC pools.     

Dendrogeomorphological assessment of movement at Hilda rock glacier, Banff National Park, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract The results of this dendrogeomorphological study provide evidence of the active movement of Hilda rock glacier, a tongue‐shaped rock glacier in the Columbia Icefield region of Banff National Park. Cross‐sectional samples were cut from 44 detrital subalpine fir (Abies Iasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry) boles killed and buried by debris spilling off the steep distal slope of the rock glacier. The samples were crossdated using locally and regionally developed tree‐ring chronologies, and were shown to have been killed between 1576 and 1999. Our results show that Hilda rock glacier has advanced at an average rate of 1.6 cm/year since the late 1790s, with limited evidence of similar rates of activity extending back to the mid‐1570s. This rock glacier activity is believed to be linked to persistent periglacial processes that appear to be independent of the climatic forcing mechanisms known to influence glacier mass balances over the same interval.     

Integrating soils and geomorphology in mountains—an example from the Front Range of Colorado

Soil distribution in high mountains reflects the impact of several soil-forming factors. Soil geomorphologists use key pedological properties to estimate ages of Quaternary deposits of various depositional environments, estimate long-term stability and instability of landscapes, and make inferences on past climatic change. Once the influence of the soil-forming factors is known, soils can be used to help interpret some aspects of landscape evolution that otherwise might go undetected.The Front Range of Colorado rises from the plains of the Colorado Piedmont at about 1700 m past a widespread, dissected Tertiary erosion surface between 2300 and 2800 m up to an alpine Continental Divide at 3600 to over 4000 m. Pleistocene valley glaciers reached the western edge of the erosion surface. Parent rocks are broadly uniform (granitic and gneissic). Climate varies from 46 cm mean annual precipitation (MAP) and 11 °C mean annual temperature (MAT) in the plains to 102 cm and −4 °C, respectively, near the range crest. Vegetation follows climate with grassland in the plains, forest in the mountains, and tundra above 3450 m. Soils reflect the bioclimatic transect from plains to divide: A/Bw or Bt/Bk or K (grassland) to A/E/Bw or Bt/C (forest) to A/Bw/C (tundra). Corresponding soil pH values decrease from 8 to less than 5 with increasing elevation. The pedogenic clay minerals dominant in each major vegetation zone are: smectite (grassland), vermiculite (forest), and 1.0–1.8 nm mixed-layer clays (tundra). Within the lower forested zone, the topographic factor (aspect) results in more leached, colder soils, with relatively thin O horizons, well-expressed E horizons and Bt horizons (Alfisols) on N-facing slopes, whereas soils with thicker A horizons, less developed or no E horizons, and Bw or Bt horizons (Mollisols) are more common on S-facing slopes. The topographic factor in the tundra results in soil patterns as a consequence of wind-redistributed snow and the amount of time it lingers on the landscape. An important parent material factor is airborne dust, which results in fine-grained surface horizons and, if infiltrated, contributes to clay accumulation in some Bt horizons. The time factor is evaluated by soil chronosequence studies of Quaternary deposits in tundra, upper forest, and plains grassland. Few soils in the study area are >10,000 years old in the tundra, >100,000 years old in the forest, and >2 million years old in the grassland. Stages of granite weathering vary with distance from the Continental Divide and the best developed is grus near the sedimentary/granitic rock contact just west of the mountain front. Grus takes a minimum of 100,000 years to form.Some of the relations indicated by the soil map patterns are: (1) parts of the erosion surface have been stable for 100,000 years or more; (2) development of grus near the mountain front could be due in part to pre-Pennsylvanian weathering; (3) a few soil properties reflect Quaternary paleoclimate; and (4) a correlation between soil development in the canyons and stream incision rates.     

SOIL CATENAS,TROPICAL DEFORESTATION,AND ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY SOIL EROSION IN THE PETéN,GUATEMALA

The Petexbatún region of Guatemala's Petén tropical forest lowlands has been largely deforested since the early 1980s as landless peasants have turned even national parks into milpas. The soils of these tropical forest, karst landscapes are known mainly from small-scale maps and archaeological investigations. This paper investigates soil catenas and natural slope processes from the region's last virgin tropical forests and compares these with catenas and processes on slashed and burned slopes. Soils were sampled and analyzed for physical, fertility, and taxonomic measures. This primary forest toposequence forms a typical downward translocation catena, with the thickest soils (>200 cm) in depressions, the thinnest soils on shoulder slopes, and moderately thin soils on the crests and backslopes. Most crest and sloping soils are Lithic Rendolls and contain simple O-A-C horizon sequences, and most soils have little sign of either eluviation or illuviation. A few deeper soils on the slopes are Vertic Rendolls and have moderate slick-ensides, whereas footslopes and seasonally drained depressions are well developed Vertisols. The primary forest soil catena was compared with two slash-and-burn milpas, one with comparable slopes and one with steeper slopes. The comparably sloped milpa had soil thicknesses that were 7.9 to 13.8 cm thinner, truncated horizons, and physical evidence of erosion. The steeper milpa had soil thicknesses that were 11.1 to 18.2 cm thinner and also had truncated horizons and physical evidence of erosion. Where ancient Maya terraces (Late Classic, ca. 550 to 830 A.D.) are present in the slash-and-burn landscape, an average of 25 to 46.5 cm soil remain upslope and 9.3 to 16.1 cm remain downslope. The findings show high soil truncation rates and erosion to bedrock in a decade in one place, though ancient Maya terraces are still holding 2.7 to 3.6 times more soil than the surrounding hillslopes. Despite high modern erosion, lake sediments show surprisingly low soil losses in the Maya Late Classic during the period of the most intensive land use. In contrast, studies at Copán, Honduras and in the northern Petén, where terrace evidence is scant, show high rates of erosion during this period. [Key words: soil catenas, tropical deforestation, milpa, soil erosion, Maya Lowlands.]     

旅游地景观生态分类方法探讨——以福州市青云山风景区为例

综合分析了影响旅游地景观的主要因子,以人为干扰为基础,以地貌为基本线索,以植被为标志,以土壤为参照,结合实地考察和景观生态制图技术,建立研究区的三级景观生态分类体系.结论认为:旅游地景观类型的划分应强调整体的综合,而不是对个别组分进行分类;多要素综合的分级分类体系,既能反映控制景观形成过程的主要因子,又可体现景观的综合性,能较好地反映客观实际;旅游地景观生态类型的划分,应根据景观异质性、图形比例尺和图斑的需要,明确分类单元的等级,确定分类的基础单元.     

High (ground) water levels and dune development in central Australia: TL dates from gypsum and quartz dunes around Lake Lewis (Napperby), Northern Territory

An episode of high lake levels prior to the last maximum glaciation has been identified at many localities in wastern Australia. Similar events have been recognized at playa lakes in central Australia, where gypsum dunes along playa margins formed during one or more episodes of high groundwater discharge, with a large influx of calcium sulphate.At Lake Lewis, exposures at two islands show similar sediment sequences: three pedogenic gypcrete layers interbedded with aeolian quartz and gypsum sand horizons form three units within gypsum dunes up to 7 m high. The lowest unit has cliffed edges buried by the upper units, indicating a significant time break. Four TL dates (coarse-grained quartz) show that this lowest unit was deposited at or before 70–80 ka. The middle unit of mixed gypsum and quartz sand capped by gypcrete represents the major phase of gypsum dune formation, and 6 TL dates range from 33 to 46 ka with overlapping error bars. These are slightly younger but statistically similar to TL dates (from 39 to 59 ka) of the shoreline gypsum dune at Lake Amadeus in the same region. The top unit of the two islands, up to 1 m thick, has not yet been well dated. One date is inconsistent with the well dated middle layer below, possibly because of incomplete bleaching, and has been rejected. The other date (17 ± 5 ka) is much younger which possibly indicates a minor and local reactivation of old gypsum sediments. At the lake margin, there are quartz dunes overlying the gypsum dunes, and a buried aeolian quartz sand layer occurs in a lake-margin terrace. These represent reactivation of the regional quartz dune field after the major gypsum dune formation. Two consistent TL dates (21 ± 4 ka and 23 ± 6 ka) indicate that regional dunes were active at about the time of the Last Glacial Maximum.     

20世纪90年代中国城市发展空间差异变动分析

城市化速度加快,城市区域化和区域城市化以及城镇体系开放性增强等是20世纪90年代中国城市发展的总体特征。以省级行政区为基本空间单元,选取25项城市发展指标, 利用SPSS统计分析软件对1990年和2000年中国城市发展进行主成份分析和聚类分析,得出20世纪90年代中国城市发展空间差异的变动特征是：① 城市发展水平的东西空间差异增大,东部沿海地区城市发展重心南移;② 城市发展速度东部沿海地区快于中西部地区,东部地区的南部大于北部,基础较好的城市集群发展速度较快;③ 东部沿海地区的北京和上海集聚性、外向性和创新性特点都很显著,中西部地区城市发展特征结构仍处于低水平均衡状态。国家目标、战略和政策的作用及其效果累积,城市发展动力机制和地理区位条件的差异是这一时期中国城市发展空间差异变动的主要原因。