This is the monthly digest of SOILS-L for AUGUST 1995.

It was prepared from the "daily" digest mailings. It differs in
certain format details from the previous monthly digests obtained
from the soils-l archive at listserv@unl.edu.

Hello!

My name is Miguel Calmon and I am working on my Ph.D. in Soils at Penn
State.

I am looking for used and cheap TDR probes. I have preference for short
probes (+/- 15 cm) and 3-rod design. I will need at least 12 probes and
they have to be resistant enough to be installed and left in the soil for at
least one year. The cables I can buy around here.

Please let me know if you have some probes available and if you are willing
to sell them. If anyone has ideas or suggestions, they are more then
welcome!

Best regards,
--
Miguel Calmon
Calmon@agronomy.cas.psu.edu
Phone: (814) 863-7608
Fax: (814) 863-7043

I do not know about your probes but would be intresting in knowoing more
about your project when you have the time. I am intrested in soil microbes
and their relation to pollution.

Thanks for your time,
Peter Lawrence

My name is David Perry and I will be visiting the US from early September
to mid October on holidays. While I am there my employer, the Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources in Victoria, Australia has asked me
to investigate how US public and private land management agencies model
catchment systems and processes, how information systems are used to
collect, store and interpret natural resource management data and what
monitoring systems are used to determine the success of extension and
enforcement programs on private land. I have a total of 7 working days
and no travel or accomodation constraints. Could you please provide with
appropriate contacts who may be interested in meeting or assisting me. I
must make arrangements as soon as possible. Thank you.

Dave,

There are a lot of information available on WWW in the area you are
interested. Probably you may have used them already. Anyway I take the
liberty to list a few WWW addresses.

National Geospatial Data Clearing house. US Geological Survey (NSDI)
http://nsdi.usgs.gov/nsdi/products/

National Stream Quality Acounting Network
http://nsdi.usgs.gov/nsdi/products/water_data.html

National Soil Characterization data
http://www.ncg.nrcs.usda.gov/soils/natl_char.html

National Resources Inventory (NRI)
http://www.ncg.nrcs.usda.gov/nri.html

National Wetland Inventory (NWI)
http://www.nwi.fws.gov/

Once anyone get going it will be real fun, and it is amazing how much
information is out there! Bye!

>
>My name is David Perry and I will be visiting the US from early September
>to mid October on holidays. While I am there my employer, the Department
>of Conservation and Natural Resources in Victoria, Australia has asked me
>to investigate how US public and private land management agencies model
>catchment systems and processes, how information systems are used to
>collect, store and interpret natural resource management data and what
>monitoring systems are used to determine the success of extension and
>enforcement programs on private land. I have a total of 7 working days
>and no travel or accomodation constraints. Could you please provide with
>appropriate contacts who may be interested in meeting or assisting me. I
>must make arrangements as soon as possible. Thank you.
>
>
>
>
--
ananda@soils.umn.edu
Ananda Mallawatantri
Dept. of soil, water, and climate
Univ. of Minnesota
1991 Upper Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108-6028

David,

It would be worth visitng the ARS in Tucson, Arizona if you have an interest
in catchment modelling and decision support. This group is involved in
developing WEPP and RUSLE - the replacements for the Universal Soil Loss
Equation (USLE). Key people would be Leonard Lane (Group Leader), Jeff Stone
and Diana Yakowitz amongst others. Their address is
Southwest Watershed Research Centre, 2000 E. Allen Rd, Tuscon AZ 85719 USA.
Jeff's email address is jeff@tucson.ars.ag.gov.

An advantage with visiting them is that you have justification to visit
Arizona which also has the Grand Canyon etc.

cheers
lex cogle

>
>My name is David Perry and I will be visiting the US from early September
>to mid October on holidays. While I am there my employer, the Department
>of Conservation and Natural Resources in Victoria, Australia has asked me
>to investigate how US public and private land management agencies model
>catchment systems and processes, how information systems are used to
>collect, store and interpret natural resource management data and what
>monitoring systems are used to determine the success of extension and
>enforcement programs on private land. I have a total of 7 working days
>and no travel or accomodation constraints. Could you please provide with
>appropriate contacts who may be interested in meeting or assisting me. I
>must make arrangements as soon as possible. Thank you.
>
>
>
>
Lex Cogle
Natural Resource Management
Dept. of Primary Industries
Peters St.
Mareeba 4880 Qld AUSTRALIA
email: alexc@salt.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au
or coglel@dpi.qld.gov.au
Phone :0061-70-921555
Fax : 0061-70-523593
email : alexc@salt.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au

Why:::!!!!?????

As this is my first communication to the group, a brief
introduction:.....

I work at the University of Ballarat, Australia, and coordinate a post grad
diploma in land rehabilitation. I have training in ecology and
subsequently pedology, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Reading, England.
My main interests are soil and land management particularly in
relation to soil structure, waterlogging and salinity. I have some
research experience of Mole drainage. I do a lot of work with
LANDCARE - a uniquely Australian affiliation of land holders
and government agencies. I would be happy to discuss any of these
matters with others.

I have a burning question for any computer buffs. It concerns SOIL
COLOR. Has anyone any experience of relating the Hue Value/Chroma
Munsell system to RGB values. I have a student who has been taking
photographs using a digital camera and the screen colours are good.
We would like to relate the RGB colour directly to a Munsell chip
code or at least to a VC rating. Any advice ?

Do you have any experience in soil microbs and the biodegradation of
petroleum products like gasoline and diesel fuel.

Thanks for your time,
Peter Lawrence

P.S.
I would like to know more about your research.

>As this is my first communication to the group, a brief
>introduction:.....
>
>I work at the University of Ballarat, Australia, and coordinate a post grad
>diploma in land rehabilitation. I have training in ecology and
>subsequently pedology, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Reading, England.
>My main interests are soil and land management particularly in
>relation to soil structure, waterlogging and salinity. I have some
>research experience of Mole drainage. I do a lot of work with
>LANDCARE - a uniquely Australian affiliation of land holders
>and government agencies. I would be happy to discuss any of these
>matters with others.
>
>I have a burning question for any computer buffs. It concerns SOIL
>COLOR. Has anyone any experience of relating the Hue Value/Chroma
>Munsell system to RGB values. I have a student who has been taking
>photographs using a digital camera and the screen colours are good.
>We would like to relate the RGB colour directly to a Munsell chip
>code or at least to a VC rating. Any advice ?

I AM ALSO INTERESTED IN THIS PROBLEM. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY
USEFUL INFORMATION

FRANK STAGNITTI

--
Dr Frank Stagnitti
School of Computing and Mathematics , Deakin University,
P.O. Box 423, Warrnambool, Vic. 3280 AUSTRALIA
( email: frankst@deakin.edu.au ) + (0)55 633 535

My name is Guy Yeates

Although I would now consider myself a soil biologist my academic training
has been relatively varied starting with an undergraduate degree at Leeds
university ('agricultural chemistry'), followed by a masters degree at Kent
university ('conservation of soil fertility'), and ending with a doctorate
at Oxford university (titled 'microbial population dynamics of the
rhizosphere').

I am currently an abstract writer for the soils section of the 'natural
resources & forestry' dept of an international, non-profit organisation
called "CAB International" ( Wallingford, UK). My work primarly involves
writing abstracts for two of the company's abstract journals: on soil
science and another on biodegradation (pollutant degradation,
bioremediation, composting etc.). In addition to the abstract writing I am
also involved in developing information products and training projects,
related to the scope of both journals, for use in developed and developing
countries.

My "burning question" is to do with biodiversity as applied to soils. I
have been rummaging around the Internet trying to locate useful information
related to soil biodiversity. I haven't, as yet, come across a great deal.
Is there anyone out there who could offer a few pointers to information
regarding suitable conferences or seminars (for 1996 & beyond), internet
resources (e.g., gophers, web sites etc.,) , or know of anyone involved in
biodiversity as applied to soils e.g., researchers, organisations,
government research councils, NGO's. Your help will be most appreciated.

Guy Yeates.

Hi Folks

This message is to all those who have visited my home page and took the time
to reply to me.

Our server was offline for several days for maintenance but is now back to
normal and ready for traffic.

The URL is: http://194.66.93.40/jim

I have been compiling a list of your suggestions and will be following up on
them soon.
Please offer any suggestions that you feel will improve my home page and
thanks to all those who sent me constructive comments!
--
Jim Snyder
Soil Conservation Technician
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
(formerly the Soil Conservation Service)

E-mail:

jsnyder317@aol.com
jsnyd317@ix.netcom.com

Re soil biodiversity you could try Dr Al Tomlin, Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada at (519)645-4452 in London, Ontario, Canada. He is
coordinating a large study on this subject.

There is a German group working on biodegradation of petroleum
products. The supervisor of this group is Dr. R.G. Joergensen from the
Institute of Soil Sciences in Goettingen. Find some further informations on
the WWW-site http://vendigo.uni-soilsci.gwdg.de/einf-br.htm.
--
Dr. Torsten Mueller
The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University
Department of Agricultural Sciences
Section of Soil, Water and Plant Nutrition
Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1971 Frederiksberg C (Copenhagen), Denmark
Phone: + 45 35283499, Fax: + 45 35283460
e-mail: torsten.muller@agsci.kvl.dk

Dear colleagues!
I found a lot of literature working on production of microbial exudates in
soil. Unfortunately there is only a few work on REsorption and REcycling
of those exudates into the living microbial biomass. I am especially
interested in slime substances such as polysaccharides. Is the use of
these extracellular polysaccharides less effective than the use of
intracellulare stored polysaccharides?
--
Dr. Torsten Mueller
The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University
Department of Agricultural Sciences
Section of Soil, Water and Plant Nutrition
Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1971 Frederiksberg C (Copenhagen), Denmark
Phone: + 45 35283499, Fax: + 45 35283460
e-mail: torsten.muller@agsci.kvl.dk

Not sure whether it will solve your problems but I would advise anyone
getting into colour to try to find "Colour: its measurement, computation
and application" 1980, G J Chamberlin and D G Chamberlin, Heyden and Son
Ltd, London. ISBN 0-85501-222-6

An old book and "pre-electronics" (Deals with items like the Lovibond and
other colourimeters) but is a good introduction to the problems of
comparing systems. More understandable than most books on colour theory.

On Sat, 19 Aug 1995, Franks Stagnitti wrote:

> >As this is my first communication to the group, a brief
> >introduction:.....
> >
> >I work at the University of Ballarat, Australia, and coordinate a post grad
> >diploma in land rehabilitation. I have training in ecology and
> >subsequently pedology, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Reading, England.
> >My main interests are soil and land management particularly in
> >relation to soil structure, waterlogging and salinity. I have some
> >research experience of Mole drainage. I do a lot of work with
> >LANDCARE - a uniquely Australian affiliation of land holders
> >and government agencies. I would be happy to discuss any of these
> >matters with others.
> >
> >I have a burning question for any computer buffs. It concerns SOIL
> >COLOR. Has anyone any experience of relating the Hue Value/Chroma
> >Munsell system to RGB values. I have a student who has been taking
> >photographs using a digital camera and the screen colours are good.
> >We would like to relate the RGB colour directly to a Munsell chip
> >code or at least to a VC rating. Any advice ?
>
> I AM ALSO INTERESTED IN THIS PROBLEM. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY
> USEFUL INFORMATION
>
> FRANK STAGNITTI
>
> ___________________________________________________
> Dr Frank Stagnitti
> School of Computing and Mathematics , Deakin University,
> P.O. Box 423, Warrnambool, Vic. 3280 AUSTRALIA
> ( email: frankst@deakin.edu.au ) + (0)55 633 535
>
>
>

I have some students doing a project to measure bioturbation by moles, voles,
gophers, etc. I am a geomorphologist with limited knowledge of these burrowing
mammals. Are there any rules of thumb, or standard references, for distinguish-
ing among these animals from the characteristics of their burrows, mounds, and
entrance/exit holes? Our site is on the southeastern coastal plain, if that
makes a difference. I know, thanks to my cats, that we at least have moles and
pine voles in the area.
--
Thanks,
Jonathan Phillips
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
Greenville, NC 27858-4353
GEPHILLI@ECUVM.CIS.ECU.EDU
919/328-6082

Thanks for your reply Peter.

The answer to your 1st question is yes: Peter Darrah was my supervisor for
my doctorate ('88-'92). As to the conference, I doubt that I will attend
(conference/seminar visits funding is too tight for such short notice and
I'll be travelling back from a few days holiday in Ireland on that day, but
thanks for letting me know..

With regards to your 'discussion' questions I've had a quick think and have
come up with
some ideas (with, I suspect, holes in the logic that are larger than the
channel tunnel !!!)

How much diversity is needed ? Depends who you ask I suppose. In general
the minimum number would probably that which enables all the biological
processes to function as normal; however, the the level of diveristy
required to maintain these processes whilst the soil conditions change due
to external factors would probably be much greater. Trying to determined
finite numbers of species as an indicator for the level biodiversity in the
soil environment is possibly a "non starter" due to the need to include
microorganisms into the total count. And from my experience their tricky
little beggers to pin down !! I'm also not sure that assigning a numerical
limit on the minimumor maximum numbers of species in the soil is terribly
meaningful since most of our interest in soil has to do with its suitability
for growing plants (crops etc..) and therefore a function based approach is
perhaps more useful.

If you were to ask a biotechnologist the reply might be along the lines:
the greatest amount possible to provide the best possible chance of
encountering an organism or gene suitable for a particular task .

What scale is functional diversity best studied? If you decrease your scale
of interest too much then it could be possible to become too bogged down in
detail whereas increase your scale above a certain point then other factors
(soil type, physiography etc.) begin to play a more important role as far as
predicting soil behaviour. Perhaps somewhere inbetween would provide the
most suitable data to allow soils to be managed to the very limits of its
performance envelope (if you'll excuse the aviation analogy) beyond which
sustainability is lost .

Which way of expressing biodiversity is most useful and for what purpose:
taxonomic, functional, or genetic ?

Guy.

My name is Henrique Chaves, and I'm a new member of the soil's list.

I'm a visiting prof at the Agronomy Dept. of the University of Brasilia,
Brazil. My areas of interest are soil conservation, erosion modeling and
soil physics.

A "burning" question for the list members is whether the USLE is applicable
of not for large scale studies (e.g. 1:1 million scale).

The reason I ask is because on a recent work with the model, and using GIS,
I've got good results (Nash-Suttclife model efficiency of 70%) when I compared
model results with sediment yield data of streams of the area studied (after
using a sediment-delivery ratio routine).

Any comments?

Henrique.

>Subj: Hi
>Date: 95-08-22 13:36:17 EDT
>From: chaveshl@guarany.cpd.unb.br (henrique marinho leite chaves)
>Sender: soils-l@unl.edu
>Reply-to: soils-l@unl.edu
>To: soils-l@unl.edu (Multiple recipients of list)

>My name is Henrique Chaves, and I'm a new member of the soil's list.
>I'm a visiting prof at the Agronomy Dept. of the University of Brasilia,
>Brazil. My areas of interest are soil conservation, erosion modeling and
>soil physics.

>A "burning" question for the list members is whether the USLE is applicable
>of not for large scale studies (e.g. 1:1 million scale).

>The reason I ask is because on a recent work with the model, and using GIS,
>I've got good results (Nash-Suttclife model efficiency of 70%) when I
compared
>model results with sediment yield data of streams of the area studied (after
>using a sediment-delivery ratio routine).

>Any comments?

>Henrique.

Henrique,
Can you share a little of your methods? For instance, how
did you determine the length of slope (LS)? What scale of soil maps did you
have to =determine the erodability factor (K)? Also, can you point me to an
article or text that will explain the "Nash-Sutclife model" and these
"sediment delivery ratio routines"?

Perhaps we will get a discussion going.

Thanks in Advance,

Mark Caldwell

For info on soil characteristics get a copy of SCS-5 CD ROM from Earth-Info.
This has soil characteristics listed for 25,000 soil series in U.S. Some of
the soil surveys have been completed using the GRASS GIS system. Cornell
Univ. has some info on this. Also check w/your State Natural Resources
Conservation Service office.

>
> For info on soil characteristics get a copy of SCS-5 CD ROM from Earth-Info.
> This has soil characteristics listed for 25,000 soil series in U.S. Some of
> the soil surveys have been completed using the GRASS GIS system. Cornell
> Univ. has some info on this. Also check w/your State Natural Resources
> Conservation Service office.
>

>
> For info on soil characteristics get a copy of SCS-5 CD ROM from Earth-Info.
> This has soil characteristics listed for 25,000 soil series in U.S. Some of
> the soil surveys have been completed using the GRASS GIS system. Cornell
> Univ. has some info on this. Also check w/your State Natural Resources
> Conservation Service office.
>

Please excuse previous post. Hit the wrong key!! ;-0

Using the SCS-5 data, whether from Earth-Info or from NRCS, it is important
to realize that this is a snapshot of the data. In particular, I think,
that the SCS-5 data from Earth-Info is several years old and missing key
data elements that the newer soils databases contains.

Also, due to the explosive development of the National Soils Information
System, SCS-5 data sets will no longer be updated or supported.

Please call the National Soil Survey Center in Lincoln, Nebraska for
more information. 402-437-5423

George Teachman

Hello, I have heard about 'soil data bases'. One recently mentioned is
the scs-5 cd rom from Earth info. I am wondering what sort of data do these
data bases generaly contain?
Do they have thermal/hydraulic data such as thermal conductivity,specfic
heats, hydraulic conductivity ,unfrozen water content??
Do they have mineral compostions of soils, ie quartz,calcite,mica,feldspar
mass fractions.
I am looking for as much experimental data on the above parameters as
possible. Any information about these soil data bases, or any other sources
would be welcome.
Thanks, Jonathan Webber Res2005@husky1.stmarys.ca

Hi John,

Here are a couple of references that I used when answering a prelim
question on burrowing animals in soils:

Hole, F.D., 1981. Effects of Animals on Soil. Geoderma, 25:75-112.

McCarthy, J.W., and E.L. Stone, 1991. Changes in Soil Water Tables Following
Phosphorus Fertilization of Young Slash Pine. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 55:1440-1446.

Stone, E.L., 1993. Soil Burrowing and Mixing by a Crayfish. Soil Sci. Soc. Am.
J., 57:1096-1099.

The last two are more related to crayfish, but the studies were made
in some coastal area (maybe florida). The 1st ref is a standard on the
subject.

Hubert

Re: Is the USLE applicable at large scales?

Not unless it is applied on a field-by-field basis. It is based on plot-level
data and never intended for application beyond the field scale (though there
has certainly been a lot of such applications). Good results are good results,
but beware of the "right answer for the wrong reason" phenomenon, so common
in hydrological modeling.

cheers,
--
Jonathan Phillips
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
Greenville, NC 27858-4353
GEPHILLI@ECUVM.CIS.ECU.EDU
919/328-6082

>From my experience, I would urge anyone who uses databases like those
being discussed (e.g., earthinfo) to perform thorough error-checking
to identify erroneous values. i haven't used any of the earthinfo soil
data, but i do have experience with climate data from earthinfo and
the national climatic data center. we found outliers and other types
of errors (e.g., tmin and tmax reversed).

does anyone know what type of efforts earthinfo takes to error-check
the datasets they receive from government agencies? i would be
afraid to ask what efforts the government agencies are able to take
given time and money constraints to ensure their data quality.
--
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Stephen R. Colbert
+NCS Forest Nutrition Cooperative +
Box 8008
+North Carolina State University +
Raleigh, NC 27695-8008
+ +
Phone: 919-515-3500
+Fax: 919-515-6193 +
Email: steve_colbert@ncsu.edu
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

>
> Hello, I have heard about 'soil data bases'. One recently mentioned is
> the scs-5 cd rom from Earth info. I am wondering what sort of data do these
> data bases generaly contain?

Most of the data in the SCS-5 database contains information by layer.
Becareful of your assumptions here. I said layer. Which may or
may not correspond to horizons.

Kind of data. Let's see...

Texture - by class and percent passing specified sieve sizes
percent clay
Plasticity index
Liquid Limit
Reaction
Bulk density
Water content (inches per inche)
CEC
SAR
Depth to pan
Depth to bedrock
providing either the pan or bedrock are within 60 inches
Corrosivity to steel and concrete
Potential frost action
T
Wind erodibilty group

And perhaps some others I've temporaly spaced.

> Do they have thermal/hydraulic data such as thermal conductivity,specfic
> heats, hydraulic conductivity ,unfrozen water content??
> Do they have mineral compostions of soils, ie quartz,calcite,mica,feldspar
> mass fractions.
> I am looking for as much experimental data on the above parameters as
> possible. Any information about these soil data bases, or any other sources
> would be welcome.

This kind of data is available for roughly 20,000 individual pedons
from the National Soil Survey Lab in Lincoln, Nebraska. They have done
some work toward getting this data on CD. I don't know the status
of this project at the moment, however.

If you'd like more information, call 402-437-5363. Ask for Dr. Ellis
Benham or Dr. Dewayne Mays.

> Thanks, Jonathan Webber Res2005@husky1.stmarys.ca
>
--
==========================================================================
== George Teachman ==
== Soil Scientist ==
== United States Department of Agriculture ==
== Natural Resource Conservation Service ==
== Fort Collins, Colorado ==
== 303-282-1960 ==
== ==
== george@talon.ftc.nrcs.usda.gov ==
== ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ==
== Welcome to earth, third rock from the sun. Cause and effect. ==
== There are only three laws of nature, and one exception. ==
== 1) F=ma; 2) E=m(c squared); 3) You can't push a rope ==
== From these three laws all others can be derived. ==
== Except those explained by CHAOS THEORY. ==
==========================================================================

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Re: "Is the USLE applicable at other scales than field and plot scales?"

I agree with J. Phillips that relationships developed in empirical models
(such as the USLE) should not be extrapolated.

However, if information is provided to 'inadequate' working scales (such as
the 1: 1 million I used), and geomorphological and hydrological laws are
followed (such as Horton's bifurcation and lenth ratios and the drainage
fractal dimension), couldn't we 'scale' erosion as we 'scale' soil mapping
and other applications?
--
Henrique Chaves
Depto. de Eng. Agronomica
Universidade de Brasilia
Brasilia, Brazil
chaveshl@guarany.cpd.unb.br

unsubscribe

Contents:
Re: Hi (James Smyle & Joan Miller <hamilton@sol.racsa.co.cr>)

Ultimately the USLE is a linear regression model which comes with all the
warnings which go with such statistical tools against extrapolation outside
the original data set.

On Sun, 27 Aug 1995, James Smyle & Joan Miller wrote:

> Ultimately the USLE is a linear regression model which comes with all the
> warnings which go with such statistical tools against extrapolation outside
> the original data set.

Can't you run USLE on a random sample of sites in the region of interest
for extrapolation purposes?

Will you please tell me how to get off this list? I've gotten stuck in soil
hell and have no way of getting out.
Merci.
tbayless

On Mon, 28 Aug 1995, Gail Olson wrote:

> Can't you run USLE on a random sample of sites in the region of interest
> for extrapolation purposes?
>
The USLE is an extremely useful tool for some things and not for others.
On the latter, a 1977 article by Wischmeier and Smith (the developers of
the USLE) is still pertinent (see "Use and misuse of the universal soil
loss equation" Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 31:5-9).

A couple of quick points:

- extrapolating the USLE involves assuming (or "solving") for more than
one unknown value....

- the LS factor has been developed of the range of slopes utilized in US
agriculture, it overestimates on steeper slopes

- the R factor has been developed for US rainfall, it way overestimates
in many higher rainfall regimes (e.g. monsoonal climates)

- the US government has invested millions in the WEPP project because the
USLE is not an appropriate tool for estimating erosion based on
processes. We often forget that while the USLE contains factors which
represent processes, they are only regression coefficients...not values
which reveal physical, biological or chemical processes. They express
statistical relationships with a heavy bias to the US east of the
rockies. The applications which are of interest (i.e. estimating erosion
from landscape scale map data) are essentially applications in search of
a process-based model. The USLE is not it.

Dear Sirs,
I work in an Italian public laboratory for soil testing to evaluate soil
fertility.
At moment we have these "urgent" questions:

1 - Does water contaminated with hydrocarbon (0.07-0.09 mg/l) suitable
to irrigate horticultural crops?

2 - What are the interference on the physical-chemical characteristics
of the soils when they are irrigate with this water?

Any suggestion is useful for us.
Thank you in advance,
Stefano Pini
--
Dr. Stefano Pini E-mail: s.pini@agora.stm.it
Laboratorio Regionale Analisi Terreni Phone : +39 187 620254
Loc. Pallodola Fax : +39 187 627698
I-19038-SARZANA (SP) ITALY

please remove me from the soils list...thanks!

On Tue, 29 Aug 1995 13:43:34 -0500 Henry Sauer wrote:
>please remove me from the soils list...thanks!
>
>
Henry,

Hope this helps

Send an e-mail message to listserv@unl.edu (not soils-l) with
this in the body:

unsubscribe soils-l (or: signoff soils-l)
Remove yourself from a list.

good luck

--
Dennis Timlin
USDA-ARS Systems Research Lab
Bldg 007, Rm 008
10300 Baltimore Ave
Beltsville, MD 20705
301-504-6255
fax 301-504-5823
DTimlin@ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV
08/29/95 15:00:27

On Tue, 29 Aug 1995 01:28:09 -0500 <S.Pini@agora.stm.it> said:
>Dear Sirs,
>I work in an Italian public laboratory for soil testing to evaluate soil
>fertility.
>At moment we have these "urgent" questions:
>
> 1 - Does water contaminated with hydrocarbon (0.07-0.09 mg/l) suitable
> to irrigate horticultural crops?
>
> 2 - What are the interference on the physical-chemical characteristics
> of the soils when they are irrigate with this water?
>
>Any suggestion is useful for us.
>Thank you in advance,
>Stefano Pini
>D---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Dr. Stefano Pini E-mail: s.pini@agora.stm.it
>Laboratorio Regionale Analisi Terreni Phone : +39 187 620254
>Loc. Pallodola Fax : +39 187 627698
>I-19038-SARZANA (SP) ITALY
>D---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that there should be little or no
concern over less than 0.1 ppm hydrocarbons in your irrigation water, assuming
you mean compounds containing only C and H. They will be strongly absorbed
by the soil if they are above a few hundred molecular weight and/or will vol-
atilize if smaller. If you are talking about thousands of hectares there is
conceivably an air-pollution concern with volatiles. Again, I am assuming
<0.1 ppm nonpolar compounds containing only H and C.
Don Wauchope

On Tue, 29 Aug 1995 S.Pini@agora.stm.it wrote:

> Dear Sirs,
> I work in an Italian public laboratory for soil testing to evaluate soil
> fertility.
> At moment we have these "urgent" questions:
>
> 1 - Does water contaminated with hydrocarbon (0.07-0.09 mg/l) suitable
> to irrigate horticultural crops?
>
> 2 - What are the interference on the physical-chemical characteristics
> of the soils when they are irrigate with this water?
>
> Any suggestion is useful for us.
> Thank you in advance,
> Stefano Pini
> D---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Stefano Pini E-mail: s.pini@agora.stm.it
> Laboratorio Regionale Analisi Terreni Phone : +39 187 620254
> Loc. Pallodola Fax : +39 187 627698
> I-19038-SARZANA (SP) ITALY
> D---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
I agree with the previous correspondent. As long as the "hydrocarbons" do
not contain any specifically toxic materials the levels stated are low
and it should be well within the capability of most soils to first adsorb
and then degrade them. This assumes that application is to the soil and
that the water will be kept off the crop. In the latter case evaporation
of water from the crop canopy would have a concentrating effect and
residues might start to accumulate - not a good idea.
The only possible problem, not very likely at the levels you describe, is
that the hydrocarbons, which are likely to be in the form of a very weak
emulsion, may come out of suspension at a specific level in the soil and
form a distinct layer - I have seen this with tar-oil emulsions. You
could probably check by running a few trials at a single location or even
in the lab.
Peter Harris,
Dept of Soil Science,
The University of Reading,
Reading, UK.

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