Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
To estimate rates of soil loss at a sampling point under the original conventional tillage and after the shift to no-till management has been developed. This procedure has been successfully applied to a study site at Buenos Aires farm near Carahue in the 9th region of Chile. The results obtained indicate that the shift from conventional tillage to no-till management has caused net rates of soil loss to decrease to about 40% of those existing under conventional tillage. This assessment of the impact of introducing no-till management at the study site must, however, be seen as provisional, since only a limited number of sampling points were used. A simplified procedure aimed at documenting the reduction in erosion rates at additional sampling points, based solely on measurements of the 137 Cs inventory of bulk cores and the 137 Cs activity in the upper part of the soil has been developed and successfully tested at the study site. Previous application of 137 Cs measurements to estimate erosion rates has been limited to estimation of medium-term erosion rates during the period extending from the beginning of fallout receipt to the time of sampling. The procedures described in this paper, which permits estimation of the change in erosion rates associated with a shift in land management practices, must be seen as representing a novel application of 137 Cs measurements in soil erosion investigations. rComparing Soil Erosion Rates on Terraced and Sloping Cultivated Land in Palestine Using FRN 137 Cs TraceComparing Soil Erosion Rates on Terraced and Sloping Cultivated Land in Palestine Using FRN 137 Cs Trace, 2022Soil erosion is a serious problem in Palestine. It is enhanced mainly by poor farming practices used in upland agricultural areas occupying the Central Highland of Palestine. e objective of this study is to assess the impact of terracing on soil erosion and deposition rates in the Al-Yamoun area (the Northern West Bank) using the fallout radionuclides cesium-137 (FRN 137 Cs). e FRN 137 Cs technique, which has proved its e ciency in estimating erosion rates over the last 50-60 years, was used for the rst time in Palestine to measure rates of erosion and deposition. e activity of 137 Cs was measured by gamma spectrometry using an HPGe detector. For the reference site, the 137 Cs inventories ranged between 2499 and 4086 Bq/m2. e average value of the reference site is 3315 ± 410 Bq/m2, which corresponds to a coe cient of variance of 12%, suggesting that the reference site is well representative for estimating 137Cs fallout. is 137 Cs amount is too high for bomb-derived fallout and indicates that a signi cant part of the deposition is from the Chernobyl accident. e 137 Cs inventories at both studied sites (terrace site and foot slope site) are signi cantly lower than those of the reference site. For the terrace site, the inventories are found between 1707 and 2749 Bq/ m2, while for the slope site they are between 1050 and 2617 Bq/m2. e lower 137 Cs values
Add Comment