Investigation of a Bronze Age tell using soil analysis data

Human presence leaves an imprint not only on its environment but also on the soil cover. Soils are capable of preserving the signs of all the natural and human-induced activities that ever affected them. Via the identification and understanding of these signs it is possible to reconstruct ancient environments and obtain an insight into the lives of ancient societies. This has been successfully proven in numerous studies in Hungary (e.g. BARCZI et al., 2009; KRAUSZ, 2014; PETŐ, et al. 2015). This paper aims at furthering the understanding and reconstruction of the history of the Százhalombatta-Földvár tell site by analysing soil science data. Tell sites are very complex, so parallel to traditional archaeological investigation, a range of natural sciences (e.g. plant, animal and geological sciences) are involved in their analysis. In this study, soil science techniques, namely soil analysis and thin-section soil micromorphological analysis were employed to gain an insight into the past 4 000 years of the settlement’s history. The intensity and the variability of human activities are also investigated. The results revealed very intensive human influence and significant environmental changes in Százhalombatta-Földvár, demonstrating the importance of the area

Phosphate sorption capacity of European volcanic soils

The aim of the presented study was to prepare the phosphate sorption isotherms of 20 European volcanic soil profiles and some other Hungarian and German volcanic soils (n = 114) used in the experiment and to establish the soil characteristics determining the phosphate sorption capacity of these soils. The Langmuir isotherm well describes the phosphate sorption of European volcanic soils at bright concentration interval 0–600 mg·dm-3P. The calculated phosphate adsorption maximum (Pmax) is an excellent soil property for characterizing the surface activity of soils developed on volcanic parent material. The calculated phosphate sorption maxima of soils included in the experiment ranged from 0 to 10.000 mg P·kg-1. Some of the volcanic soils sorbed a high ratio of the added phosphate at low concentrations, while others sorbed somewhat less. The difference in the phosphate binding affinity of soils caused the differences in the shape of the Langmuir adsorption isotherms. P retention % is a WRB diagnostic requirement of andic soil horizon. It was supposed that the phosphate sorption maximum (Pmax) gives a better characterization of the surface reactivity of volcanic soils. As it was predicted, oxalate soluble Al is the most important soil property, which dominantly (in 73%) explained the phosphate sorption ability of European volcanic soils

Characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) extracted from soils by hot water percolation (HWP)

The Hot Water Percolation (HWP) technique for preparing soil extracts has several advantages: it is easily carried out, fast, and several parameters can be measured from the same solution. The object of this study was to examine the possible use of HWP extracts for the characterization of soil organic matter. The HPLC-SEC chromatograms, UV-VIS and fluorescence properties of the HWP extracts were studied and the results were compared with those of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) Soil Humic Acid (HA), IHSS Soil Fulvic Acid (FA) and IHSS Suwannee Natural Organic Matter (NOM) standards as well as their HA counterparts isolated by traditional extraction methods from the original soil samples. The DOM of the HWP solution is probably a mixture of organic materials, which have some characteristics similar to the Soil FA fractions and NOM. The HWP extracted organic material can be studied and characterized using simple techniques, like UV-VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy

Spectral properties of strawberry plants

Strawberry varieties were studied in 3 different growing areas of different soil- and ecological properties in Hungary. We have measured the optical spectra of the leaves together with their nutrient content and performed sensory examinations on the deep frozen and melted fruit. The 6 varieties were Elsanta, Marianna, Spadeka, Symphony, Camarosa, and Raurica. The 3 sites were Újfehértó, Pölöske, and Kecskemet. Colour of the leaves was characterised by their lightness and dominant wavelength. Under non-optimal soil and ecological conditions the varieties could be distinguished by their colour — the leaves became lighter and more yellow. The fruits did not produce the genetically determined taste if the plant can not grow in optimal circumstances — we found a negative correlation between the leaf colour in flowering time and the fruit flavour. Leaf colour measurements performed in flowering time make it possible to improve fruit quality by changing the nutrient supply between flowering and ripening

Soil-root interactions in potassium supply

Potassium uptake is the result of numerous simultaneous processes influencing the potassium dynamics in the rhizosphere.The presented research has focused on plant-soil interactions in the potassium supply of soil in the root environment of maize. It was assumed that: 1. roots promote the mobilization of K by the acidification of the rhizosphere soil, 2. roots increase wetting-drying cycles in their environment, and 3. soil total K content affects K release and fixation in the bulk of soil and the root environment.The promoting effect of root activity was detected on K release from soil when feldspar was added as K source to the root environment. A 2-unit reduction of soil pH multiplied K concentration in the soil solution, depending on the feldspar rate. Feldspar application significantly increased the solubility and release of potassium into the soil solution.The effect of pH reduction on the K concentration of soil solution was several magnitudes higher than that of the wetting-drying cycles both in the untreated and feldspar treated soils.Potassium uptake by maize over two generations greatly exceeded the exchangeable pool in the growing media. As a consequence of the exhaustive K uptake K release slowed down to the soil solution, as reflected in the H2O extractable K and ExK contents.Significant K fixation was detected after the K removal of maize in feldspar treated soils. On the contrary, in the treatments without plants increasing feldspar rates increased both H2O extractable K and ExK contents.One-term Langmuir equation, corrected with the originally sorbed amount of K, was fitted to measured data. The maximum amount of potassium adsorption (Kmax, mg∙kg−1) and the equilibrium constant (k) were calculated. The potassium buffering capacity was estimated at zero equilibrium concentration. Both K buffering capacity and the energy of K fixation were high for the rhizosphere soil. In rhizosphere soil samples the energy of K fixation was one magnitude higher as compared to the bulk soil and decreased substantially with feldspar addition. In soils without plants the k equilibrium constant did not change as the result of drying-wetting process only in the case of the 50% soil/feldspar mixture.In the liquid phase of the soil without feldspar application potassium concentration decreased in the one-year drying-wetting cycle, presumably it got into more strongly bounded forms in the low K status soil. In 50% feldspar enriched soil samples potassium concentration in the soil solution increased, likely as a consequence of a slow dissolution of the K content of feldspar