Soils on historic charcoal hearths - terminology and chemical properties

  • Historic charcoal hearth remains provide a unique archive of the long term interaction between biochar, soil development and plant growth. Charcoal as raw material was crucial for production of iron in iron works and hence numerous charcoal hearths can be found in the forests near historic iron works in Europe as well as the Eastern United States. Charcoal hearths are round to elliptical forms often around 10 m in diameter, and consist of several decimeter thick layers that contain charcoal fragments, ash, and burnt soil. We studied the soil chemistry of 24 charcoal hearths and compared them to the surrounding ‘natural’ soils in the northern Appalachians of northwestern Connecticut. The thickness of the topsoils on the charcoal hearths and their carbon content are remarkably higher than in the surrounding topsoils. The presence of residual products from charcoal production classifies the soils as Anthropic Udorthents (US Soil Taxonomy) or Spolic Technosols (Humic) according to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. TheHistoric charcoal hearth remains provide a unique archive of the long term interaction between biochar, soil development and plant growth. Charcoal as raw material was crucial for production of iron in iron works and hence numerous charcoal hearths can be found in the forests near historic iron works in Europe as well as the Eastern United States. Charcoal hearths are round to elliptical forms often around 10 m in diameter, and consist of several decimeter thick layers that contain charcoal fragments, ash, and burnt soil. We studied the soil chemistry of 24 charcoal hearths and compared them to the surrounding ‘natural’ soils in the northern Appalachians of northwestern Connecticut. The thickness of the topsoils on the charcoal hearths and their carbon content are remarkably higher than in the surrounding topsoils. The presence of residual products from charcoal production classifies the soils as Anthropic Udorthents (US Soil Taxonomy) or Spolic Technosols (Humic) according to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. The widespread occurrence of charcoal hearth remains and their high spatial density in different ecosystems underlines their importance for further pedological research.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: Florian HirschORCiD, Thomas RaabORCiDGND, William OuimetORCiD, David Dethier, Anna SchneiderORCiDGND, Alexandra RaabORCiD
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2017.02.0067
ISSN:1435-0661
ISSN:0361-5995
Title of the source (English):Soil Science Society of America Journal : SSSAJ
Document Type:Scientific journal article peer-reviewed
Language:English
Year of publication:2017
Contributing Corporation:University of Connecticut, Department of Geography and Center for Integrative Geosciences, Storrs, Connecticut; Williams College, Geosciences Department, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Tag:biochar; carbon sink; land use; pedogenesis
Volume/Year:81
Issue number:6
First Page:1427
Last Page:1435
Faculty/Chair:Fakultät 2 Umwelt und Naturwissenschaften / FG Geopedologie und Landschaftsentwicklung
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