Clarifications on statements in Badía et al. (2013), Geoderma 193-194, 13-21

2 Pags. The definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00167061Both fragmental scientific quotations and misquotations can contribute to the spread of mistakes and cast confusion upon future research. We discuss several erroneous or conflictive statements and some misquotations found in an article published in GEODERMA. Many of the flaws are related with the occurrence of gypsum in soils and with the use of the term ‘equivalent’ in the designation of analytical results. Our reading of the subject article raises concerns about its validity, with practical implications on the future use of the concepts and data.Peer reviewe

Aridisols of Spain

6 Pags.- 2 Tabls.This paper reviews the distribution and classification of Spanish Aridisols and discusses some taxonomic problems and major management practices. Little literature is available about Spanish Aridisols. Most of the information contained in this Daper comes from soil maps and from the authors unpublished data. The discussion covers the update of Soil Taxonomy, the unsuitability of Newhall's method for some Spanish Mediterranean areas, and the taxonomic status of the gypsiferous soils. Many of the soils classified as Aridisols (S.S.S., 1975) are now distributed into several Orders because the EC criterion has been dropped at this hierarchic level. Recently, a new method for soil moisture regime calculation has been developed in Spain. This method improves the delineation of the aridic regions. Micromorphology provides a better knowledge of hypsiferous soils, and two kinds of gypsic horizons have been identified. Apart from marginal uses. the management of Spanish Aridisols is based on water supply and/or water saving and on taking advantage of early cropping. The following conclusions can be made: (i) the new model of soil moisture regime calculations can be applied to the presumed aridic areas of Spain and calibrated with soil moisture measurements in the field, (ii) the inclusion of gypsiferous soils into three Orders disagees with their distinct morphology and behavior, (iii) refinement in the gypsic horizon definition is needed to link microscopic features and field criteria, and (iv) both old and new management practices in Aridisols must be reported in detail for improvement, the adaptation of new technologies, and extension of management practices to new areas.Peer reviewe

The contrast of the drylands versus the old and new irrigated districts in Quinto

Part of this chapter is extracted from the book: 0. Artieda (1996) Génesis y distribución de suelos en un medio semiárido. Quinto (Zaragoza). Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentación. Madrid. 222 pp. + 1 map.The soils to be visited are in the municipality of Quinto, in the right bank of the Ebro river, downstream of Zaragoza (Fig. 3.2.1 ). Barley is the only feasible crop in the unirrigated lands, but yield is often low or nil, and in most years is not harvested but grazed by sheeps. Only a scarce and elderly population remains because of the lack of stable income. People perceive these lands as marginal, and thus waste disposal or quarrying of alabaster, clay and gravel have been easily accepted. Protection of the arid ecosystems has been recently promoted by some private and public organizations. Irrigated agriculture has supported human life in the central Ebro Valley since ancient times. Maize, alfalfa, wheat, barley, peas, sunflower, onions, fruit trees are some of the common crops that grow in the irrigated lands. Now, the conflict between agricultural and urban uses of water has produced strong criticisms against irrigation. Quinto contains an old surface-irrigated district in the lower terrace of the Ebro river. A new irrigated area of around 2500 ha started eleven years ago by pumping water 130 meters of vertical elevation from the Ebro river. Sprinkler and drip irrigation allow good productions not only in gypseous soils, but also in some enclaves of saline soils where subsurface drainage pipes were installed. The trip will show some of the representative soils of Quinto and their relationships with the landscape and land use.49 Pags.- Figs.- Tabls. This Chapter is based on previous works carried out in the Department of Soils and Irrigation of the Agri-Research Service of the Government of Aragon, as part of several research projects funded by the Agriculture Ministry of Spain.Peer reviewe

Morfología y génesis de suelos sobre yesos

1 copia .pdf del original (447 p.; 17x24; il.)En el presente trabajo se estudian los suelos desarrollados a lo largo de un afloramiento yesoso netamente delimitado, de unos 150 km de longitud, pero tiene una validez más amplia, de acuerdo a observaciones en otros ámbitos geográficos. Este trabajo puede contribuir a facilitar la descripción e interpretación de láminas delgadas y promover el interés por este tipo de suelos. Fue preciso utilizar una técnica, la micromorfología, capaz de estudiar organizaciones originales en muestras inalteradas. Otras técnicas complementarias, como la microscopía electrónica, la difracción de rayos X y la espectroscopía de infrarrojos han permitido confirmar resultados así como elucidar la mineralogía de ciertos componentes. Los procesos formadores identificados a través de este enfoque naturalista permiten comprender mejor la génesis y el funcionamiento de estos suelos. En consecuencia, se hacen algunas propuestas referentes a las descripciones micromorfológicas y a la clasificación dentro del “Soil Taxonomy System”, para una descripción y denominación más precisas de los suelos yesosos.Peer reviewe

Remote sensing, wetlands and agriculture

1 Pag. with abstract of the oral communication from authors into "Second morning session (11:30-14:00 h.)" of the Wetlands International Symposium. It took place in parallel with the XVI Congreso de la Asociación Española de Teledetección (XVI Meeting of the Spanish Remote Sensing Association) (Seville, Spain).In Monegros, we used remote sensing for the delimitation of agricultural soils in dry-farmed lands with low or nil production due to their aridity and soil composition. Distinctly colored decametric patches with different soil properties and crop (winter cereal) development are dominant in the landscape. Gypsum- and carbonate-rich soils are spread in the dry-farm area in relation with the limestone and gyprock substrate; gypsum rich areas are known as very low production areas.Supporting Agencies: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL2012-40100).Peer reviewe

Soil salinity and its distribution determined by soil sampling and electromagnetic techniques

20 Pag., 3 Tabl., 6 Fig. The definitive version is available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-2743/Diagnosis of soil salinity and its spatial variability is required to establish control measures in irrigated agriculture. This article shows the usefulness of electromagnetic (EM) and soil sampling techniques to map salinity. We analysed the salinity of a 1-ha plot of surface-irrigated olive plantation in Aragon, NE Spain, by measuring the electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) of soil samples taken at 22 points, and by reading the Geonics EM38 sensor at 141 points in the horizontal (EMH) and vertical (EMV) dipole positions. EMH and EMV values had asymmetrical bimodal distributions, with most readings in the non-saline range and a sharp transition to relatively high readings. Most salinity profiles were uniform (i.e. EMH=EMV), except in areas with high salinity and concurrent shallow water tables, where the profiles were inverted as shown by EMH > EMV, and by ECe being greater in shallow than in deeper layers. The regressions of ECe on EM readings predicted ECe with R2 > 84% for the 0–100 to 0–150 cm soil depths. We then produced salinity contour maps from the 141 ECe values estimated from the electromagnetic readings and the 22 measured values of ECe. Owing to the high soil sampling density, the maps were similar (i.e. mean surface-weighted ECe values between 3.9 dS m−1 and 4.2 dS m−1), although the electromagnetically estimated ECe improved the mapping of details. Whereas soil sampling is preferred for analysing the vertical distribution of soil salinity, the electromagnetic sensor is ideal for mapping the lateral variability of soil salinity.This article is a result of the project RTA01-001, funded by INIA (Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain). The second author was granted by Fundación Cándido Iturriaga - María Dañobeitia.Peer reviewe

Soil investigation using a participative approach for agri-environmental improvement in Monegros, Spain

5 Pags.- 1 Tabl.- 2 Figs.The saline wetlands of the Monegros Desert, in the center of the Ebro Basin (NE Spain), host valuable biodiversity and pedodiversity. A part of this area has been proposed for inclusion in the Natura 2000 E. U. Network. However, agricultural intensification is changing the area as more land is consolidated for new irrigation or is plowed to obtain CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) subsides. Soil mapping is needed to assist in the delimitation of natural habitats and make conservation compatible with agriculture. The methodology presented here to characterize agri-environmental areas takes into account current agricultural and environmental practices. The approach was participative, asking the opinion of farmers and agricultural and environmental officers about a new agrienvironmental measure which could be proposed to the Rural Development section of the CAP The measure would economize agriculture inputs in unproductive areas and also meet nature conservation purposes. A GIS data base was built for selecting the farming plots suitable for new agricultural practices favoring biodiversity and pedodiversity. At the local scale, we used remote sensing and pedodiversity criteria for selecting low productive areas to be prospected. The opinion po!! resulted in a positive response, with a 67% of the managed surface favoring a new CAP measure compatible with nature conservation. The po!! corifirmed the interest of thefarmers in having detailed maps of the soil features that limit crop production.MEC and FEDER funded this work within the Project AGL2006-01283.Peer reviewe

Quantifying visible land degradation of saline wetlands in an arid region of NE Spain

5 Pags.- 3 Figs. Paper # 4_18 in: Á. Faz, R. Ortiz, G. García (Eds.) 2004. Extended abstracts in CDRom. 4th Internat. Conference on Land Degradation. 12-17 September, Cartagena, Spain. ISBN: 84-95781-40-9.This Paper aims to study the present status of the saladas and to quantify their visible degradation with the help of a Geographical Information System (GIS). For this purpose we analyze the changes that have occurred in the last decades and we establish indices to evaluate the condition of the saladas in terms of conservation status and vulnerability.Peer reviewe

Landsat monitoring of playa-lakes in the Spanish Monegros desert

31 Pags.- 2 Tabls.- 10 Figs. The definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01401963Small playa-lakes in Monegros, Spain, are high-value habitats for endemisms, threatened by landscape transformations and development of newly irrigated lands. The purpose of monitoring these fragile habitats is to detect their future disturbance, i.e. the effects of changing their natural hydrological regime, such as increasing their flooding surface area and habitat degradation by fresh and polluted water flow inputs. Landsat imagery is used for this purpose, facing the lack of regular ground data about their hydrological regime and the land covers with ecological meaning. Five meaningful thematic classes have been established grouping spectral classes obtained from unsupervised classification together with the visual interpretation of the original bands, the IHS transformation and the principal component analysis. The scarce ground data were confronted with the images. Compared to field work, remote sensing is advantageous for monitoring these playa-lakes, providing reliable insight to understand these habitats. Examples of how this research advances our knowledge about the nature and response of this ecosystem to adverse environmental changes are presented.This article is a result of the project REN2003-00742, funded by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain, and is part of the preliminary works for the ESA-Category-1 Project 2328, partially funded by the European Space Agency.Peer reviewe

Teledetección en regadíos y en espacios naturales áridos de Aragón

8 Pags.- 1 Tabl.- 10 Figs.Desde hace unos catorce años, la Unidad de Suelos y Riegos del SIA-DGA viene desarrollando aplicaciones agrarias y ambientales de la teledetección. El objetivo es obtener nuevos conocimientos y modelos de funcionamiento del territorio mediante satélites de recursos naturales e información de terreno. Para ello cuenta con programas de tratamiento de imágenes de satélite y de sistemas de información geográfica. Se muestran a continuación algunas aplicaciones desarrolladas en dicha Unidad dentro de las líneas de actuación (i) seguimiento del regadío y (ii) estudio de la evolución y dinámica de lagunas saladas. En todas estas aplicaciones se utilizan imágenes Landsat TM y/o ETM+.Este trabajo presenta resultados obtenidos en diferentes proyectos de investigación financiados por INIA (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología), y por el Gobierno de Aragón a través de la Comunidad de Trabajo de los Pirineos.Peer reviewe