10 Key points for soil protection
- Knowledge, soil is a 3D body, sphere interactions
- Precations for protections
- Soil monitoring, health of soils, responses to laws
- Remediate polluted soils
- Soil as common ground, shared responsibility
- Integrity ensured by legals standards
- Corporate mandates to improve institutions
- All actors involved
- Spatial planning, agriculture, forestry especially
Legislations of the EU
- New European Soil Strategy for 2030 + New Soil Monitoring law
- not as strong as once intended
- 60% of EU soil unhealthy
Legislations in CH
- USG 1983
- VSBo 1986
- VBBo 1998
- new versions, new defintions for pollutants
Strategy Soil 2020 CH
- recognizes diff. Soil Functions, not just as a place to grow food
- preserve soil Functions
- FOEN, ARE, FOAG, federal & cantonal
6 objectives of Strategy Soil 2020
- Reduction of soil consumption, thr. land planning
- Consideration of SF in spatial planning, not sealing fertile soil
- Protection against damage, pollutants, erosion
- Restoration of degraded Soils, actively put OM on soil
- Awareness of value & vulnerability of soil
- Strengthening international engagement, Import/Export affected, Telecoppling Effects
Reserach, Institutes, Implementaton of Soil Science in CH
- Universtiteis
- Agroscope: agricultural research & solutions
- WSL: forest soils
- BLW: agriculture
- BAFU: Soil, Biotechnology
- Cantons: soil protection agencies
- Private/engineering offices: construction supervisors, BBB
what is Centre KoBo?
- National Centre of Competence for Soil
- improve basis for Implementation measures, promoting sustainable use & effective Protection
Tasks of KoBo
- make a Map of CH Soils
- standardize/improve Methods of surveying Soil
- define technical standards for Soil Mapping
- Providing methods for evaluation SF & threats
- national info for all actors
- promoting interdisciplinary between actors
SF/T in Meadows
- Restoration of Pastures (Weidefläche)
- Erosion on steep areas
- Preventing overgrown areas
- high Biodiversity of herbs & bushes
- Long roots of vegetation keep dying, continous OM in Soil
Unofficial Soil Definitions
- living, breathing skin of Planet
- any loose material on surface of Earth that is capable of supporting life
Definition of Soil
Surface component of Earth that developed from..
- geolog. materials of the lithosphere
- dead biomass from biosphere
- and by phys, chem, bio processes
Terms of Non-Soil Material
Sediment: displaced soil without in situ Formation
Regolith: weathered rock without bio. influence, no OM
Coal/Peat: biogenic sediments, grows ontop of Soil the dies, environment too wet & no mineral input
Top & Bottom development of Soil
Weathering of parent rock, crushing, chem conversion
Settlement of plants, build up of OM, bio & chem reactions
Components of Pedosphere
=> Abb. Folie 26
- includes Litter, Topsoil, Subsoil
- does not include Hydrosphere, Lithosphere
- does not include Biosphere (moss layer, trees), but Biosphere does include all of Pedosphere
Environmental Conditions of Pedosphere
- sharp temp. fluctuations
- low to very high relat. humidity
- complete darkness to full light
=> subdivided into Humidity, Light, Temperature, Plant Biomass, Microorganism Biomass
Subdivided EC of Pedosphere
Humidity: reaches max. on Topsoil
Temp: increases at Surface, ideal conditions for Plants
Light: slow to steep increase on surface
Plant biomass: peak in Topsoil thru. roots
Microorganism biomass: Peak like Plant biomass, degrade dead biomass
Terms of Soil Structure
- Horizons: diff. parts of Soil, no OM layer/bedrock, all horizons = Solumn
- Soil group/type/unit: same horizon sequence, characteristics, not neces. same bedrock
Soil (horizon) formation Processes
- Weathering
- Mineral formation: Iron 2 to oxygen & Iron 3
- Decomposition of litter, Humus formation
- Microstructure formation
- Material transfer
Bsp of Solumns
- Bleached horizon thru. leeching
- microorganisms good at degrading OM when O2 available, otherwise accumulation
=> Soil is continous, new formation/change thru. washing out minerals, erosion, etc
=> Classification can be difficult
Terms of other Soil Units
Elementary Soil unit: Pedon, 1-10^2m, 0.5-2m depth
Verical pit: Soil Profile
Polypedon: multiple Pedons
Soil Composition
- solid, liquid, gaseous Phase
- 46% Minerals, 4% OM, 25% Water, 25% Air
- large & varied reactive surface areas, small particles, exchange & reactions
- Clay, Silt, Sand, Stone, Earthworm & wall (excreting substances), Roots, water filled pores, air filled pores
Inhabited Soil Pores
- habitat for soil organisms (Edaphon)
- Fine pores <2nm: unhabited, too small
- Medium pores 0.2-10nm: bacteria, fungi, algae, root hairs, etc
- Coarse & secondary pores > 10nm: roots, nematodes, mites, etc
Soil Factors that lead to forming processes
S = f(G, C, T, O, A) * Z
G: Geology
C: Climate
T: Topography
O: Organism
A: Anthropogenic
Z: Time
Timestamps of soil formation processes
Geology - Climate - Organisms - Topography - Soil
=> Abb:
1. Parent material with moss
2. C horizon, OM, broken rock, mineral fragments
3. C horizon, A horizon, OM
3. C horizon, B horizon, A horizon, stored carbon, OM
