According to the previous post, tetrahedral and octahedral sheets combine to form layers, and we can find two main types of clay structures: structure 1:1 (one tetrahedron sheet and one octahedral sheet) and 2:1 (two tetrahedral sheets and one octahedral sheet). The basic structure of clays is this: Substitutions between cations may occur in the tetrahedral and octahedral …[Read More]
Connecting European connectivity research (COST Action ES1306)
Saskia Keesstra E-mail: saskia.keesstra@wur.nl Deputy President of the Soil System Sciences Division of the European Geosciences Union Why connecting connectivity research? Successful prediction of pathways of storm runoff generation and associated soil erosion is of considerable societal importance, including off-site impacts such as water quality and the provision of related ecosystem services. Recently, the role of connectivity …[Read More]
Lightening the clay (I)
“The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is”. Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370 BC). What is clay? Clays are particles. Very, very small mineral particles. You cannot see them, you cannot handle them… but unity makes strength. Clays are one of the major mineral components of the soil, whose chemical and physical properties …[Read More]
Monday paper: Use of phytoremediation and biochar to remediate heavy metal polluted soils: a review
Paz-Ferreiro, J., Lu, H., Fu, S., Méndez, A., and Gascó, G.: Use of phytoremediation and biochar to remediate heavy metal polluted soils: a review, Solid Earth, 5, 65-75, doi:10.5194/se-5-65-2014, 2014. Soil heavy metal pollution Due to increased extraction and use by various industries, heavy metals come easily to the environment in various ways. Unlike organic substances, heavy metals can not …[Read More]
Mediterranean Environmental Research Group (GRAM)
By Marc Oliva The Mediterranean Environmental Research Group, (GRAM) from the University of Barcelona has over 20 years of working experience in the field of the effects of forest fires on soil properties. In 1998 the doctoral thesis entitled “Fire effects on soil properties, the role of fire intensity” carried out by Xavier Úbeda …[Read More]
Google Scholar metrics for soil science journals
The 2014 version of Google Scholar Metrics has been just published. The ranking is arranged according to each journal’s h5-index and h-median metrics. The 2014 edition is based on citations of all articles indexed in Google Scholar until mid-June 2014 and covers articles published between 2009-2013, both inclusive. The ranking also includes lists for publications in …[Read More]
Notes on the Short Course on Forest Fire Effects on Soil Properties (EGU2014)
SSS10.11/SC21 Convener: Paulo Pereira | Co-Conveners: Guillermo Rein , Antonio Jordán , Claudio Zaccone , Lorena M. Zavala In this edition of European Geoscience (EGU) 2014 Assembly we organized a short course on Forest Fire Effects on Soil Properties. As in the previous course organized in EGU 2013, we think that the objectives were largely …[Read More]
Permafrost Young Researchers Network: the study of permafrost in a climate change scenario
Marc Oliva University of Lisbon, Portugal The World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the IPCC Working Group 1 (Fourth Assessment Report) recognize the Cryosphere as one of the most significant challenges of climate science and as a major source of uncertainty in global climate projections. While the permafrost carbon feedback has been identified as …[Read More]
Soil colors – what more could you want?
Nuno Simões University of Algarve, Portugal E-mail: nuno_simoes58@hotmail.com We can easily see that soil color varies from one site to another, with depth, with topographic position and composition. Even color may be light brown in one side of the road and dark brown in the other. Whether for scientific purposes, or just curious, you study the colorimetric …[Read More]
Will drinking tea get us thinking about soils? Yes, but only if you help us spread the word!
Taru Lehtinen PhD candidate at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland tmk2@hi.is The Tea Bag Index Project wants to create a global map on decomposition with the help of citizen scientists. We use teabags to collect vital information on the global carbon cycle. With our protocol (see our web page and …[Read More]