PUBLIC MARKS from paleorthid

Web site discusses science in support of using grassland to sequester atmospheric carbon.

While the science owes a tremendous debt to agriculturists, engineers and geologists, soil science is not subordinate to any other discipline. Any real disagreement about standing were eliminated in 1924 when the International Council for Science accepted the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), as a full member , rather than placing soil science within either the IUGS or IUBS.

Oddities indicate artificial Moon origin. Subheadings in this blog article: magnetic fields, resonance, strange materials and shapes, orbital oddity, anomalous flashes of light

This article presents results of a survey undertaken as part of a series of work packages under a joint initiative by JISC and SURF to explore the attitudes of authors in the UK and the Netherlands towards Open Access. These and other results seem to reflect a desire on the part of academics to change the balance of rights within copyright between authors and publishers in scholarly communication journals. Libraries and academic institutes are already taking part in the scholarly communication copyright debate and could use these results to align their positions with the academics' views.

If we save the prime farmland but fail to allow farmers and the next generation to continue farming, then what's the point?

Plants around the world are using water much more efficiently, thanks to increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The effect is so pronounced, says a new study, that it is massively increasing river flows and raising the risks of flooding.

Rapid turnover of organic matter leads to a low efficiency of organic fertilizers applied to increase and sequester C in soils of the humid tropics. Charcoal was reported to be responsible for high soil organic matter contents and soil fertility of anthropogenic soils (Terra Preta) found in central Amazonia. Therefore, we reviewed the available information about the physical and chemical properties of charcoal as affected by different combustion procedures, and the effects of its application in agricultural fields on nutrient retention and crop production. Higher nutrient retention and nutrient availability were found after charcoal additions to soil, related to higher exchange capacity, surface area and direct nutrient additions. Higher charring temperatures generally improved exchange properties and surface area of the charcoal. Additionally, charcoal is relatively recalcitrant and can therefore be used as a long-term sink for atmospheric CO2. Several aspects of a charcoal management system remain unclear, such as the role of microorganisms in oxidizing charcoal surfaces and releasing nutrients and the possibilities to improve charcoal properties during production under field conditions. Several research needs were identified, such as field testing of charcoal production in tropical agroecosystems, the investigation of surface properties of the carbonized materials in the soil environment, and the evaluation of the agronomic and economic effectiveness of soil management with charcoal.

The article highlights some important nuances. Terra mulata, the lighter type of terra preta, covers much more area than the celebrated black type central to the concept of terra preta.

Why people living on hills overlooking many rivers in Brazil two millennia ago devised this approach is still a subject of debate, as is how they added all the extra organic content and ensured the soil was teeming with beneficial bugs and other micro-organisms. A modern technology called low-temperature pyrolysis can produce bio-char on an industrial scale. Using wood or agricultural wastes for fuel, pyrolysis would generate heat for electricity while also actually reducing net emissions of carbon dioxide since the organic matter would otherwise decompose. "This might be the beginning of a bio-char revolution," Lehmann says.

Applying the knowledge of terra preta to contemporary soil management can decrease the amount of fertilizer needed, because bio-char helps retain nitrogen in the soil as well as higher levels of plant-available phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and organic matter. The black soil also does not get depleted, as do other soils, after repeated use. Producing and applying bio-char to soil would not only dramatically improve soil and increase crop production, but also could provide a novel approach to establishing a significant, long-term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Ordinance would impose a temporary moratorium on any land-spreading of manure or other industrial waste in the town until April 5. Well contamination tied to accidental break in underground wastewater line on dairy farm.

The Internet is leading us to redefine the meaning of self. Will Google be the Borg Queen? Apparently I have been assimulated.

comment: heartburn over an expectation that the scientific community has promoted that leads us to believe that we can create a significant, persistent sink of carbon by using established farming and forestry approaches.

The Carbon Coalition started out among growers in the Central West Catchment Management Authority's Farm Systems training program in New South Wales and is expanding to cover Australia and other parts of the globe. The Coalition is a not-for-profit organisation that runs like a business, with the express aim of securing a central role for soil carbon in the credit trading schemes emerging around Greenhouse Gas Emissions abatement. Co-convenors are the Kiely family, woolgrowers from Goolma, NSW.

Amazonian datasets assembled with funding from NASA. land cover, soil, vegetation, sawmills, rural housing, fire, industrial mining,

The presence of various groups of methane-, propane- and butane-oxidizing micro-organisms can reliably differentiate between prospective and non-prospective areas, as well as between oil and gas reservoirs.

I write at least twice a week about life as we know it and the trials and tribulations of dirt doctoring.

To curb the archaeological destruction in Brazil and improve agriculture production worldwide, researchers have come up with a modern method of creating this black magic earth. Take some normal soil, add a handful of charcoal, a bunch of leaves and a dollop of cow poop. You've got modern-day terra preta, called bio-char. "Bio-char has these very efficient properties of retaining nutrients. It will retain more carbon in the soil better than any uncharred organic matter," Lehmann said.

The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground. That's not all. Scientists have a method to reproduce this soil -- known as terra preta, or Amazonian dark earths -- and say it can pull substantial amounts of carbon out of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, helping to prevent global warming.

It shouldn't be there, but it is. terra preta, which may cover 10 percent of Amazonia, was the product of intense habitation by Amerindian populations who flourished in the area for two millennia. What researchers find most remarkable is that instead of destroying the soil, the indigenous inhabitants improved it - something ecologists don't know how to do today.

In many states, professional soil scientists conduct the septic system site assessments required for permit approval.