Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Ammar Albalasmeh, Osama Mohawesh, Mamoun Gharaibeh, Sanjit Deb, Lindsey Slaughter, Ali El Hanandeh
Summary: The generalized regression neural network (GRNN) can be used to predict the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K-sat) of soil, and soil texture and electrical conductivity can be used as the influential features in the prediction model. The GRNN model using a small dataset and limited features can provide reliable predictions of K-sat.
Article
Soil Science
Smadar Tanner, Itzhak Katra, Eli Argaman, Meni Ben-Hur
Summary: The structure stability and hydraulic conductivity of soils are influenced by various factors such as slaking, swelling, and dispersion. During wetting and leaching processes, sublayer soils have higher structural strength and less breakdown compared to top soils, leading to a lower hydraulic conductivity.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Meisam Rezaei, Seyed Rohollah Mousavi, Asghar Rahmani, Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh, Mehdi Rahmati, Mojtaba Pakparvar, Vahid Alah Jahandideh Mahjenabadi, Piet Seuntjens, Wim Cornelis
Summary: This study evaluated several popular tree-based machine learning algorithms to assess the spatial distribution of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) in a sandy agricultural field. The random forest model performed the best in Ksat prediction. The results of this study are important for simulating water flow and solute transport in precision agriculture.
COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yurong Cai, Yuchun Yan, Chu Wang, Dawei Xu, Xu Wang, Xiaoping Xin, Jinqiang Chen, David J. Eldridge
Summary: The study found differences in plant and soil characteristics between shrubs and interspaces in a semi-arid grassland encroached by the leguminous shrub Caragana microphylla. Shrubs had a positive effect on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, while grazing had a negative impact. Additionally, structural equation modeling revealed that shrubs played a critical role in maintaining infiltration under overgrazing conditions.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Tuvia Turkeltaub, Golan Bel
Summary: A better understanding of the effects of rainfall and evapotranspiration statistics on groundwater recharge requires long time series of these variables, which are often scarce. To overcome this limitation, rainfall and evapotranspiration time series are synthesized using different methods. In this study, we investigate the dependence of estimated groundwater recharge on the synthesis methods used in semi-arid regions. The results show that the estimation of groundwater recharge is sensitive to the synthesis method, and the correction of monthly mean and standard deviation of the synthesized time series produces the best agreement with independent estimates.
HYDROLOGY AND EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Francisco Pedrero Salcedo, Pedro Perez Cutillas, Juan Jose Alarcon Cabanero, Alessandro Gaetano Vivaldi
Summary: The global water crisis, driven by water scarcity and water quality deterioration, is expected to continue and intensify in dry and overpopulated areas, and will play a critical role in meeting future agricultural demands. This study focuses on the influence of environmental factors on soil salinity and its effect on irrigated agriculture using degraded water. The findings suggest that remote sensing techniques and environmental data can be used to detect and monitor soil salinity in citrus trees. Incorporating other variables related to agricultural management practices will improve soil salinity predictive models.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sevim Seda Yamac, Hamza Negis, Cevdet Seker, Azhar M. M. Memon, Bedri Kurtulus, Mladen Todorovic, Gadir Alomair
Summary: The study used neural network and tree-based models for estimating soil hydraulic conductivity, achieving satisfactory results. Among them, the ANN7 model performed the best, with lower errors and higher correlation coefficients.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Xiyan Zhang, Dongqing Li, Lei Chen, Feng Ming, Yuhang Liu
Summary: This study proposed a simple and smooth hydraulic conductivity model for saturated frozen soil based on the soil freezing characteristic curve, which was validated with experimental cases and found that the predictive modeling power was related to the tortuosity function. The model showed better performance compared to previous models, providing a new idea for developing the hydraulic conductivity model of saturated frozen soil.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gordana Kaplan, Hakan Oktay Aydinli, Andrea Pietrelli, Fabien Mieyeville, Vincenzo Ferrara
Summary: This study utilized remote sensing technologies and machine learning methods to investigate oil-contaminated soils in the context of the Kuwait desert oil spill in 1991. By analyzing pre- and post-spill data and developing spectral signatures, the researchers were able to detect and model the location and degree of contamination. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in detecting oil-contaminated soil.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Abhishek Goyal, Alessia Flammini, Renato Morbidelli, Corrado Corradini, Rao S. Govindaraju
Summary: The impact of observations on the maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) of the Ks distribution parameters is evaluated in this study. Based on data from rainfall-runoff events, the results demonstrate the role of temporal variation of rainfall in resolving the Ks field for a rainfall event.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Lei Chen, Feng Ming, Xiyan Zhang, Xiaobin Wei, Yuhang Liu
Summary: This study presents an experimental and theoretical method for obtaining the hydraulic conductivity of warm saturated frozen soil, which can accurately predict the hydraulic conductivity through a proposed equivalent model. The validity of the model is confirmed by comparing predictions with measured data.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Edzard Hangen, Friedhelm Vieten, Uwe Geuss
Summary: This study utilized field data to estimate the field-saturated hydraulic conductivity of alluvial soils, developing a pedotransfer function to predict K-fs values for 11 different alluvial soils. While individual realizations showed deviation to measured values, the averaged linear regression provided acceptable accuracy.
Article
Agronomy
Mohamed E. Fadl, Mohamed E. M. Jalhoum, Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman, Elsherbiny A. Ali, Wessam R. Zahra, Ahmed S. Abuzaid, Costanza Fiorentino, Paola D'Antonio, Abdelaziz A. Belal, Antonio Scopa
Summary: This study aims to map and assess soil salinization at El-Farafra Oasis in Egypt Western Desert using salinity indices, Imaging Spectroscopy (IS), and statistical techniques. A regression model was developed to establish the relationship between electrical conductivity (ECe) and seven salinity indices, resulting in soil salinity maps. The investigation found satisfactory correlations between most salinity indices and ECe values, highlighting the importance of monitoring soil salinity for future natural resource management plans.
Article
Environmental Studies
Agnieszka Petryk, Edyta Kruk, Marek Ryczek, Lenka Lackoova
Summary: Saturated hydraulic conductivity is a crucial soil parameter that affects surface runoff and water erosion formation. Field and laboratory methods for measuring this parameter are time-consuming and expensive, while empirical methods are simple, quick, and costless. This study compared 15 pedotransfer models to assess their usefulness in determining saturated hydraulic conductivity for highly eroded loess soil. The average values obtained from the analyzed functions ranged greatly between 2.00 center dot 10(-3) and 4.05 center dot 10(0) m center dot day(-1). The results were compared with each other and with values obtained from the field method. The Kazeny-Carman and Zauuerbrej methods showed the best comparability with the field method, while the Seelheim and Furnival-Wilson methods differed significantly.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Raid Almalki, Mehdi Khaki, Patricia M. Saco, Jose F. Rodriguez
Summary: Vegetation cover change is an important indicator for monitoring environmental quality, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Remote sensing data can be used to monitor and map vegetation cover changes, and their accuracy can be improved by combining them with ground truth data. Additionally, ancillary data can help detect vegetation cover changes at the species level.
Article
Geography
Alberto Bosino, Alice Bernini, Greg A. Botha, Greta Bonacina, Luisa Pellegrini, Adel Omran, Volker Hochschild, Christian Sommer, Michael Maerker
Summary: This study presents a geomorphological map of the upper Mkhomazi River basin in South Africa, focusing on erosional landforms and their relation to colluvial deposits. The study aims to understand the spatial distribution of these features and proposes a stratigraphic correlation of colluvial deposits and buried palaeosol profiles at a local and regional scale.
Article
Water Resources
Stephan Schulz, Rike Becker, Juan Carlos Richard-Cerda, Muhammad Usman, Tim aus der Beek, Ralf Merz, Christoph Schueth
Summary: This study proposes an approach to quantify water balance components in warm, arid environments, specifically for irrigated agriculture with uncertain data basis, using a combination of traditional monitoring, remote sensing data analysis, and numerical modeling. By integrating soil moisture, energy balance, and satellite reflectance data, initial estimates of water balance components are derived, improved through simulations, and finalized through parameter optimization. The method, applied to an agricultural test site in Punjab, Pakistan, yielded final estimates for ETact and groundwater recharge, demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach in quantifying water balance components in such environments.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pasquale Borrelli, Jean Poesen, Matthias Vanmaercke, Cristiano Ballabio, Javier Herv, Michael Maerker, Simone Scarpa, Panos Panagos
Summary: The European Commission has identified soil erosion as a significant threat to soil resources in the European Union (EU). This study integrates a soil erosion module into the 2018 LUCAS Topsoil Survey to monitor gully erosion in the EU and UK. The results show that the method is effective in detecting gully erosion and mapping permanent gullies, but less effective for detecting ephemeral gullies.
INTERNATIONAL SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Alberto Bosino, Dawid Aleksander Szatten, Adel Omran, Stefano Crema, Matteo Crozi, Rike Becker, Manuele Bettoni, Calogero Schillaci, Michael Maerker
Summary: This study assessed the sediment dynamics of a small ungauged watershed in the Northern Apennines, Italy by analyzing the volume concentration and grain-size distribution of suspended sediments in correlation with precipitation patterns. The results revealed a direct relationship between precipitation and suspended sediment load, with a delay of about 2 hours after intense precipitation events. Additionally, the study found an inverse relationship between Sauter Mean Diameter values and precipitation due to turbidity effects.
Article
Geography, Physical
Adel Omran, Dietrich Schroeder, Christian Sommer, Volker Hochschild, Michael Maerker
Summary: This article presents a method for simulating gully erosion using Python-GIS modules, and assesses the susceptibility of soils to gully erosion through analysis of topographic characteristics, soil properties, and measured runoff in the study area.
JOURNAL OF SPATIAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Manuele Bettoni, Michael Maerker, Roberto Sacchi, Alberto Bosino, Marco Conedera, Laura Simoncelli, Sebastian Vogel
Summary: Landscape sensitivity refers to the likelihood of land use changes affecting soil properties in an irreversible way. This study aims to quantitatively assess the sensitivity of the southern Alpine soil landscape to land use change-induced perturbations. The analysis focused on key soil properties including soil texture, bulk density, soil organic carbon, saturated hydraulic conductivity, aggregate stability, and soil water repellency. The study area, characterized by steep topography and frequent extreme climatic conditions, exhibited a generally high stability of the assessed soils in terms of aggregate stability and thick soils. However, the most sensitive soil property to land use change was soil water repellency.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Pasquale Borrelli, Panos Panagos, Christine Alewell, Cristiano Ballabio, Hugo de Oliveira Fagundes, Nigussie Haregeweyn, Emanuele Lugato, Michael Maerker, Jean Poesen, Matthias Vanmaercke, David A. Robinson
Summary: This study uses a multi-model approach to assess the spatial risk of soil erosion by various processes and their co-occurrence, as well as the potential intersections with future climate conditions. The findings indicate that a significant area of arable land in the European Union is vulnerable to erosion, with different degrees of risk depending on the number of driving factors. The results highlight the importance of developing monitoring networks and targeted mitigation strategies to protect soils under the Common Agricultural Policy. This research contributes to the goal of achieving sustainable and biodiversity-friendly agriculture advocated in the EU Green Deal.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dawid Szatten, Marta Brzezinska, Michael Maerker, Zbigniew Podgorski, Dariusz Brykala
Summary: This paper investigates the relationship between the locations of past watermills and their hydrological and geomorphological conditions. The natural landscape is analyzed as a resource for favorable or unfavorable factors affecting mill locations. The Maximum Entropy Method (MaxEnt) is used to determine the spatial probability distribution of mill reservoir locations based on natural landscape types. The research results provide insights into the evolution of cultural landscapes in lowland areas and the role of mill settlements in colonizing forest areas and river valleys.
Article
Environmental Studies
Odunayo David Adeniyi, Alexander Brenning, Alice Bernini, Stefano Brenna, Michael Maerker
Summary: Sustainable agricultural landscape management requires reliable soil maps and updated geospatial soil information. Machine learning models have been commonly used in digital soil mapping for various landscapes. In this study, linear and nonlinear ML models were tested for predicting and mapping soil properties in an agricultural lowland landscape in Lombardy, Italy. An ensemble learning model based on a stacking approach was evaluated for predicting spatial variation of soil properties. The results provide valuable information for sustainable land use and future changes in water content, soil pollution dynamics, and food security.
Article
Soil Science
Manuele Bettoni, Michael Maerker, Alberto Bosino, Marco Conedera, Laura Simoncelli, Sebastian Vogel
Summary: In mountain regions, changes in land use greatly affect surface runoff and soil erosion. This study in a southern Alpine valley in Switzerland found that the increase in surface runoff due to soil water repellency did not have a corresponding high sensitivity to soil erosion. The high aggregate stability of the soil prevented significant sediment transport, except in abandoned and reforested agricultural terraces.
Article
Geography, Physical
M. La Licata, A. Bosino, M. Bettoni, M. Maerker
Summary: The management of Mediterranean Agroecosystems is crucial to prevent or mitigate sediment-related threats. This study conducted in the upper Val d'Arda catchment aimed to identify sediment sources and sinks in relation to geological and landscape features. Various processes, such as landslides, upland erosion, piping and gullying, and fluvial erosion, contribute to sediment yield. An integrated methodology combining fieldwork, mapping, GIS, and remote sensing proved effective in characterizing the complex geomorphic systems in the Northern Apennines.
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Saad Khan, Adel Omran, Dietrich Schroeder, Christian Sommer, Volker Hochschild, Michael Maerker
Summary: This study aims to develop a QGIS plugin using Python to assess gully erosion dynamics, which uses topographical data, soil characteristics, and discharge information as input. The plugin simplifies the setup, parameter preparation, and visualization of the gully model, providing results in different formats for visualization with various 3D software tools. It enables a comprehensive assessment of gully erosion and the derivation of coping and mitigation strategies.
EARTH SCIENCE INFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Anthropology
M. Maerker, I. Rellini, L. Mucerino, P. Torrese
Summary: A pseudo-3D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was conducted at the Neolithic/Palaeolithic site of Grotta Scaloria in Italy to detect cavities. Through synthetic data modelling, the adequacy of the geophysical method was verified and a proper experimental setup was developed. The results of the field data inversion revealed high resistivity anomalies that could be related to cavities and provided a good definition of the main geological structures and boundaries. Furthermore, the results suggest the presence of unknown and unexplored cavities at the Scaloria Cave study site.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Maria-Victoria Soto, Joselyn Arriagada-Gonzalez, Martina Molina-Benavides, Misael Cabello, Miguel Contreras-Alonso, Ignacio Ibarra, Gabriela Guevara, Sergio A. Sepulveda, Michael Maerker
Summary: In this study, we investigated natural hazards and their potential impacts on productive activities in the Comau Fjord in Chilean Northern Patagonia. Through hazard mapping and fieldwork, we identified areas prone to landslides, river/tsunami flooding, and glacial retreat. The overlapping of these hazards with economic activities suggest potential damage to local salmon and mussel farming infrastructure. Furthermore, the construction sites for a new highway in the area also face a high level of exposure to natural hazards.
Article
Environmental Studies
Manuele Bettoni, Michael Maerker, Alberto Bosino, Calogero Schillaci, Sebastian Vogel
Summary: In the era of global change, understanding the sensitivity, stability, and resistivity of ecosystems and landscapes is crucial. This study aims to address the lack of clear definitions for these terms and quantitatively evaluate the landscape statuses. Interdisciplinary research and work groups are emphasized as important for this study.
