The loss of soil parent material: detecting and measuring the erosion of saprolite

Soil parent material is a fundamental natural resource for the generation of new soils. Through weathering processes, soil parent materials provide many of the basic building blocks for soils and have a significant bearing on the physico-chemical makeup of the soil profile. Parent materials are critical for governing the stock, quality, and functionality of the soil they form. Most research on soil parent materials to date has aimed to establish and measure the processes by which soil is generated from them. Comparatively little work has been performed to assess the rates at which soil parent materials erode if they are exposed at the land surface. This is despite the threat that the erosion of soil parent materials poses to the process of soil formation and the loss of the essential ecosystem services those soils would have provided. A salient but unanswered question is whether the erosion of soil parent materials, when exposed at the land surface, outpaces the rates at which soils form from them. This study represents one of the first to detect and measure the loss of soil parent material. We applied Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle Structure-From-Motion (UAV-SfM) photogrammetry to detect, map, and quantify the erosion rates of an exposed saprolitic (i.e., weathered bedrock) surface on an agricultural hillslope in Brazil. We then utilized a global inventory of soil formation to compare these erosion rates with the rates at which soils form in equivalent lithologies and climatic contexts. We found that the measured saprolite erosion rates were between 14 and 3766 times faster than those of soil formation in similar climatic and lithological conditions. While these findings demonstrate that saprolite erosion can inhibit soil formation, our observations of above-ground vegetation on the exposed saprolitic surface suggests that weathered bedrock has the potential to sustain some biomass production even in the absence of traditional soils. This opens up a new avenue of enquiry within soil science: to what extent can saprolite and, by extension, soil parent materials deliver soil ecosystem services?This work was funded by a Global Challenge Research Fund grant awarded to Daniel L. Evans

Estimativa das temperaturas máximas e mínimas do ar para a região do Circuito das Frutas, SP

Desenvolveram-se, neste trabalho modelos de estimativa da temperatura do ar com base em fatores geográficos, visando estimar os valores máximos e mínimos médios mensais e anuais na região compreendida pelos municípios que compõem o Polo Turístico do Circuito das Frutas do Estado de São Paulo. Obtiveram-se equações de regressão múltipla em função da altitude, latitude e longitude e simples em função da altitude, cujos coeficientes de determinação variam entre 0,91 a 0,96, para as temperaturas máximas e 0,71 a 0,94 para as mínimas e se apresentam as variações espaciais das temperaturas máximas e mínimas médias mensais e anuais da região de estudo na forma de mapas

Indicadores ambientais para áreas de preservação permanente Environmental indicators for areas of permanent preservation

Apesar da conscientização pelas questões ambientais, existe uma crescente pressão sobre os recursos naturais. A análise do uso e da ocupação das terras é um ponto de partida para adequação do ambiente antrópico cuja capacidade de suporte é, portanto, fundamental para a criação de modelos de gestão. O trabalho trata de uma pesquisa que utiliza o geoprocessamento e a gestão de informações do uso e ocupação para estudos ambientais. O objetivo foi selecionar indicadores para gestão das Áreas de Preservação Permanente (APP) e aprimoramento do uso de informações para gestão ambiental. O estudo foi realizado na bacia hidrográfica do rio Jundiaí-Mirim, Jundiaí, SP; utilizaram-se os dados de um levantamento prévio das suas condições ambientais. A técnica empregada permitiu a seleção de oito indicadores que se mostraram capazes de caracterizar o estado das áreas avaliadas. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que somente 44,6% da APP se encontram em conformidade com a legislação.Despite awareness of environmental issues, there is a growing human pressure on natural resources. The analysis of the land use can be considered as a starting point for studies of anthropogenic environmental adjustment and it is essential to propose models of management with emphasis on land sustainability. The work consists of a research conducted on environmental studies, using GIS and information management of land use. The goal was to select environmental indicators for management of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), where eight indicators were selected. The study was carried out in the Jundiaí-Mirim watershed, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The technique allowed the selection of eight indicators that were able to characterize the state of the evaluated areas. The results showed that only 44.6% of APP are in accordance with the law

Qualidade ambiental dos fragmentos florestais na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Jundiaí-Mirim entre 1972 e 2013

The location of Jundiai-Mirim river basin, close to large urban centers and industrial parks, has contributed to the appreciation of their lands. Consequently, the region has an intense process of urbanization that resulted in an increasing environmental disturbance in the forest areas. Given the need to preserve existing natural vegetation, because the watershed is the source of water used to supply Jundiai, SP, this study evaluated changes in the environmental quality of the watershed forest fragments between 1972 and 2013. The environment quality was determined by evaluating nine indicators of environmental disturbance, obtained by techniques of Geoprocessing and integrated by Multicriteria Analysis. The results showed a constant tendency of deteriorating the environmental quality of natural vegetation between 1972 and 2013, attributed to the intense process of occupation of the watershed. It is concluded that: (a) urbanization and deforestation of natural vegetation were primarily responsible for changes in environmental quality; (b) there is a need to create public policies to preserve the natural vegetation in the watershed.A localização da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Jundiaí-Mirim, próximo a grandes centros urbanos e parques industriais, tem contribuído para a valorização das suas terras; em consequência, a região apresenta intenso processo de urbanização, que resultou em um aumento crescente da perturbação ambiental nas áreas florestais. Dada à necessidade de manutenção da vegetação natural, visto que a bacia hidrográfica é a fonte da água utilizada no abastecimento de Jundiaí, SP, este trabalho avaliou as modificações na qualidade ambiental dos fragmentos florestais da bacia hidrográfica entre 1972 e 2013. A qualidade ambiental foi determinada por meio da avaliação de nove indicadores de perturbação ambiental obtidos através de técnicas de Geoprocessamento e integrados pela Análise Multicritério. Os resultados mostraram uma tendência constante de deterioração da qualidade ambiental da vegetação natural entre 1972 e 2013, atribuída ao intenso processo de ocupação da bacia hidrográfica. Concluiu-se que: (a) a urbanização e o desmatamento da vegetação natural foram os principais responsáveis pelas alterações na qualidade ambiental; (b) existe a necessidade de criação de políticas públicas para a preservação da vegetação natural do manancial

Soil properties under Amazon forest and changes due to pasture installation in Rondônia, Brazil Soil properties under Amazon forest and changes due to pasture installation in Rondônia, Brazil

Scope of the journal The primary intention of the journal is to stimulate wide interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding among workers in the different fields of pedology. Therefore, the journal tries to bring together papers from the entiire field of soil research, rather than to emphasize any one subdiscipline. Interdisciplinary work should preferably be focused on occurrence and dynamic charactlerizatiorn in space and time of soils in the field. Publication information Geoderma . For 1996 volumes 69-74 are sclheduled for publication. Subscription prices are available upon request from the publisher. Subscriptions are accepted on a prepaid basis only ar;d are entered on a calendar year basis. Issues are sent by surface mail except to the following countries where air delivery via SAL is ensured: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, PR China, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, USA. For all other countries airmail rates are available upon request. Claims for missing issues must be made within six months of our publication Abstract We examined the consequences of deforestation and pasture establishment for soil chemical and physical properties and for soil organic matter content, in Rondônia, in the southwestem part of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Two chronosequences were selected. One chronosequence consisted of a forest and pasture established in 1989, 1987, 1983, 1979 and 1972. The main soil type in this area is the red yellow podzolic latosol (Kandiudult). The second chronosequence consisted of a forest site and pasture established in 1987, 1983, 1972 and 1911, and the main soil type is a red yellow podzolic soil (Paleudult, Tropudult). The first soil type is the most base-depleted soil and has a higher clay content than the second one. Despite the initial differences in clay and cations contents between the forest sites the total soil carbon content at 0-30 cm in both forest were circa 3.7 kg C m-*. After pasture installation soil bulk density were higher in the first 0-5 cm soil layer, mainly in one chronosequence but small changes were detected in deeper soil layers. Forest'conversion to pasture caused appreciable increases in soil pH and exchangeable cation content, at least until nine years after pasture installation. pH levels were greater in the first chronosequence, with highest values (6.8 to 7.6) found in 3 and 5 years old pastures respectively. In the most base-depleted soil Ca content increased from 0.07 kg m-2 in the forest site to 0.25 kg m-2 in the 5 year old pasture. After normalization by clay content total soil carbon contents to 30 cm in the 20 year old pastures were 17 to 20% higher than in the original forest sites. Calculations of carbon derived from forest (Cdf) and from pasture (Cdp) using soil 6I3C values showed that Cdf decrease sharply in the first 9 years after pasture establishment in both chronosequences and reached stable values of 2.12 kg C m -2 and 2.02 kg C mb2 in chronosequences 1 and 2,, respectively. Soil carbon derived from pasture increased with time and represented 50% of total (1996) 63-81 soil carbon in the top 30 cm after 20 years of pasture. In general we observed that forest conversion to pasture is associated to a pattern of increasing of soil cations and pH levels for at least 5 years under pasture establishment. The removal of the original forest for pasture establishment resulted in an accumulation of carbon derived from pasture in the soil