Cations extraction of sandy-clay soils from Cavado valley, Portugal, using sodium salts solutions

Cases of contamination by metals in the water wells of the Cavado Valley in north-west Portugal can be attributed to the heavy leaching of clay soils due to an excess of nitrogen resulting from the intensive use of fertilisers in agricultural areas. This work focuses on the natural weathering characteristics of soils, particularly the clay material, through the study of samples collected near the River Cavado. Samples taken from various sites, after physico-chemical characterisation, were subjected to clay dissolution tests, using sodium salts of different ionic forces, to detect the relationship between certain physico-chemical parameters of water, such as pH, nitrate, chloride and sulphate content, in the dissolution of clay and the subsequent extraction of such cations as Al, Fe and K. In acidic sandy clay soils, the mineralogical composition of which was characterised by a predominance of quartz, micas, kaolinite and K-feldspars, decreases of the clay material/water pH ratio increases dissolution of the micaceous and K-feldspars phases. The presence of nitrates in the aqueous solution apparently advanced the extraction of all three cations Al, Fe and K. The specific surface area of the clay material showed a significant correlation with the main kinetic parameters of cation extraction.Têm ocorrido casos de contaminações de águas de poços, por metais, no vale do Rio Cávado, região noroeste de Portugal. A princípio, poderiam ser explicáveis pela elevada lixiviação dos solos arenoargilosos da região, quando da prática de adubações intensivas de nitrogênio em áreas agrícolas. Assim, estudaram-se as características do intemperismo natural dos solos, particularmente da fração argila, característica da margem norte do rio Cávado. Coletaram-se amostras de vários locais, que foram submetidas, após caracterização físico-química, a ensaios de dissolução a partir de soluções de sais de sódio com diferentes forças iônicas. O objetivo foi observar as relações de determinados parâmetros físico-químicos da água, tais como: pH, nitratos, cloretos e sulfatos na dissolução das argilas e a conseqüente extração de espécies químicas tais como Al, K e Fe. Para solos areno-argilosos, ácidos, cuja composição mineralógica se caracteriza por um predomínio de quartzo, micas, caulinita e feldspato-K, o abaixamento do pH da suspensão solo/água promove a solubilização das fases micáceas e feldspáticas. A presença do nitrato nas soluções aquosas promoveu aparentemente a extração de todos os três cátions: Al, K e Fe. O efeito da área superfícial específica das partículas dos solos condicionou fortemente vários dos parâmetros cinéticos estudados relativos à extração dos cátions.(undefined

Criteria for the estimation of field capacity and their implications for the bucket type model

Field capacity (FC) is crucial for modelling soil–plant–water dynamics with bucket‐type models, supporting prevention of environmental problems (e.g. chemical leaching to deeper layers and groundwater and waste of water resources). As FC measurement in situ is labour intensive, approaches for its estimation have been proposed. However, because they differ conceptually and are based on different assumptions, the response to an application (e.g. crop yield (CY) modelling) can be rather different. This study evaluated frequently used FC approaches in scenarios quantifying differences in behaviour of soil water and air retention, evapotranspiration (ET) and CY. Also, a soil texture‐based pedotransfer function (PTF) was compared with other methods. Six sites with different soil types and management practices from tropical and temperate climates were investigated. Field capacity was estimated based on a static criterion using the water content (θ) at pressure heads (h) of 0.6, 1 and 3.3 m and at the inflection point (θi) of all water retention curves (SWRCs) and the Assouline and Or model (AO). Moreover, four equations found in the literature based on a dynamic criterion were also evaluated. For all soils, the largest FC results were obtained when θi was set as FC. The smallest FC values were obtained with θ (3.3 m) (tropical) and AO (temperate). The coefficient of variation (CV) between FC estimates, based on nine approaches, ranged from 7 to 54%. Available water storage, air capacity (AC) and ET results were sensitive to FC and showed more variation for the Brazilian sites. The PTF used estimated FC within the range of results obtained by the other nine approaches. In addition, AquaCrop was used to study the effect of FC on CY by fixing all model parameters, whereas FC was the only flexible parameter. Crop yield was sensitive to the variation in FC under low and medium rainfall, but increased with larger FC. For high rainfall, the yield was small in a scenario with large θfc because AC became yield limiting