Analysis of porosity evolution in permanent grassland soil through the seasons

abstract

English

Soil is indispensable material for life on earth not only for organisms living in soil but even for human needs. Various soils are habitats for numerous organisms (fauna, flora, bacteria). Soil structure is important factor for many processes in soils. It regulates water retention, root penetration, sorption processes of nutrients or xenobiotics and diffusion. However, soil structure changes with the activity of micro and macroorganisms1. Macroorganisms or macrofauna is defined as invertebrates larger than 2 mm, for example worms, termites, or ants. They are considered to have important role in controlling soil structure dynamic2. There are also changes caused by diverting grasslands into croplands3. Therefore, we used permanent grassland for our study to minimalize these changes. There is not much research about the structure changes caused by climate change or by different seasons. Most studies focus on changes caused by organisms4. Therefore, we combined X-ray computed tomography with chemical analysis to observe seasonal changes during spring, summer, and autumn in natural permanent grassland. Top layer of soil (10 cm), that is directly impacted by climate, was sampled carefully to not cause any damage, and put into transparent container. Samples were scanned with microCT in this transparent container firstly. After that the chemical analysis, which contains humidity measurement, FTIR, thermogravimetry and elemental analysis, was made. Meanwhile the scanned soil was segmented into organic matter, pores and inorganic part and molecular diffusion and permeability simulation was ran based on the diffusion coefficients of two chosen drugs (sulfapyridine, sulfamethoxazole) using program VG studio.

soil; tomography; permanent grassland

ZÁVODSKÁ, P.; JAQUES, V.; KLUČÁKOVÁ, M.; PEKAŘ, M.; ZIKMUND, T.; KAISER, J.

29. 8. 2022

2336-7202

Czech chemical society symposium series

Czech Republic