Land elevation exerts a significant influence on soil fertility through affecting macro and micro climatic conditions and geomorphological processes. To evaluate the soil fertility at different elevation classes, namely 1600-2000, 2000-2400, 2400-2800, and > 2800 m, 350 surface soil samples (0-30 cm) were collected from the agricultural lands of northwestern Iran. Soil properties, including soil texture, calcium carbonate (CaCO), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), and soil macronutrients (TN, P, and K) and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu), were measured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the spatial distribution of soil erodibility factor (K-factor) at the district scale is essential for managing water erosion risk. In this research, we performed to predict the low and high classes of K-factor in the northwest of Iran. Based on this, soil sampling was performed at 64 points using the grid sampling method with 1 km spacing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe contamination of urban soils with heavy elements due to the rapid development of urbanization and urban services has become a major environmental and human health challenge. This study provides insight into the urbanization controls on combined pollution severity and health risk potential of heavy metals in corn-cultivated urban versus non-urban soils. A multifaceted assessment was conducted using enrichment factor (EF), ecological risk (ER), bioconcentration factor (BCF), transmission factor (TF), hazard index (HI), and carcinogenic risk (CR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnowledge of environmental factors controlling soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks can help predict spatial distribution SOC stocks. So, this study was carried out to select the best environmental factors to model and estimate the spatial distribution of SOC stocks in northwestern Iran. Soil sampling was performed at 210 points by multiple conditioned Latin Hypercube method (cLHm) and SOC stocks were measured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoil organic matter (SOM) is one of the important factors in arid and semiarid areas, which describes the soil quality. Spatial estimation of SOM is important to understand the SOM storage and the emphasis of the SOM in the global carbon cycle and environmental issues. Mapping of SOM content can have significant uses in environmental modeling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTexture is one of the most important soil properties that knowledge of the spatial distribution is essential for land-use planning and other activities related to agriculture and environment protection. So, this study was performed to supply the soil texture spatial distribution using standardized spectral reflectance (ZPC1) index of Landsat 8 satellite images in the northwest of Iran. The soil sampling was performed using a random method in 145 points.
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