Cezary Kabała

Mercury accumulation in the surface layers of mountain soils: A case study from the Karkonosze Mountains, Poland

The study was aimed to examine total concentrations and pools of Hg in surface layers of soils in the Karkonosze Mountains, dependent on soil properties and site locality. Soil samples were collected from a litter layer and the layers 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm, at 68 sites belonging to the net of a monitoring system, in two separate areas, and in three altitudinal zones: below 900 m, 900-1100 m, and over 1100 m. Air-borne pollution was the major source of mercury in soils. Hg has accumulated mainly in the litter (where its concentrations were the highest), and in the layer 0-10 cm. Hg concentrations in all samples were in the range 0.04-0.97 mg kg(-1), with mean values 0.38, 0.28, and 0.14 mg kg(-1) for litter and the layers 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm, respectively. The highest Hg concentrations in the litter layer were found in the intermediate altitudinal zone, whereas Hg concentrations in the layer 0-10 cm increased with increasing altitude. Soil quality standard for protected areas (0.50 mg kg(-1)) was exceeded in a few sites. The pools of Hg accumulated in soils were in the range: 0.8-84.8 mg m(-2), with a mean value of 16.5 mg m(-2), and they correlated strongly with the pools of stored organic matter.

Profile Distributions of Lead, Zinc, and Copper in Dystric Cambisols Developed from Granite and Gneiss of the Sudetes Mountains, Poland

Total contents of Pb, Zn and Cu were examined in twenty-five soilprofiles of forested Dystric Cambisols developed from granite andgneiss in the area of the Sudetes Mountains (SW Poland). Sequential extraction of heavy metals was also carried out to study relations between metal content and soil compounds. Profile distribution differed among the metals examined: Pb concentrations decreased gradually from surface with depth, whereas those of Zn increased with depth of soil profile, obtaining their maximum in the bedrock horizon. Cu was found to accumulate in topsoil and decrease with depth, but showed secondary increase of the concentration in bedrock. Organic matter was found to be a crucial factor of Pb binding and distribution, while iron oxides played the most important rolein Zn binding. Both organic matter and oxides were important factors of Cu distribution. The results of sequential extractionshow that all studied elements are mobile under strong acidicconditions in investigated Cambisols. Thus, total contents of Zn and Cu in bedrock cannot be used as geochemical background or as reference levels for assessing the contamination of soilsurface with these metals.

Copper, Zinc, and Lead Fractions in Soils Long-Term Irrigated with Municipal Wastewater

Long-term irrigation with municipal wastewater may lead, even in spite of intense farming, to an accumulation of organic matter, nutrient elements, and trace metals in soils. Excessive increases of heavy metals may pose a potential risk to the food chain and provoke restrictions for the further cultivation of sensitive crops. Copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and lead (Pb) forms in soils under long-term irrigation (for 100–120 years) with treated wastewater of Wroclaw were investigated by using selective seven-step sequential extraction (procedure of Zeien-Bruemmer) for partitioning the metals into operationally defined fractions, likely to be released in solution under various environmental conditions. The largest fraction of Cu, Pb, and particularly Zn in nonirrigated (control) soils was strongly bound in a residual form, while the percentage of exchangeable and the most labile fractions were negligible. Total concentration of metals in irrigated soils was elevated, and significant redistribution of metals among phases was observed. Percentages of residual fraction of Cu and Pb were no more than 25% (Zn < 40%), while significantly increased contribution of fractions occluded on iron (Fe) oxides and organically bound Cu. Exchangeable and readily mobile forms of Zn are predominant zinc fractions in soils irrigated with wastewater.

Holocene vegetation history and soil development reflected in the lake sediments of the Karkonosze Mountains (Poland)

A 11-m-long lake sediment core of a mountain lake situated at 1225 m a.s.l. in the Karkonosze Mountains (Poland) provided a unique, multi-proxy archive to reconstruct natural and human-induced environmental changes over the entire Holocene period. Pollen analyses allowed for the local and regional reconstruction of vegetation history. The chemical composition of the core and the determination of amorphous Fe and Al phases enabled to trace back soil formation in the surrounding catchment. About 11 ka ago, birch-pine and pine-birch communities started to develop in the Preboreal chronozone. Subsequently, the vegetation cover changed to Corylus–Picea–Abies + Fagus in the higher and middle mountain zones, and to Ulmus–Quercus–Carpinus in the mountain foreland and footslopes. The decline of forests that started in the 11th century because of clearing was accompanied by the expansion of grasses, both as pastures in the mountains and cereal crops in the foreland. At the same time, the mining and smelting gave rise to environmental pollution with heavy metals (Pb, Cu and Zn) at a regional scale. Combined geochemical and palynological data indicated relationships between vegetation type, sediment texture and its elemental composition. This relationship seemed to be linked to climatic conditions and surface erosion intensity. A first progressive soil-forming phase occurred from 10.9 until about 8.4 ka cal. BP. Rapid and strong soil erosion (regressive phase), related to rapid climate deterioration, occurred at about 8.4 ka cal. BP. Thereafter, continuous soil formation (progressive phase) and podzolization in the Boreal and Atlantic continued until about 1 ka BP when strong human impact (deforestation) led again to a regressive soil evolution.

Correlation between the Polish Soil Classification (2011) and international soil classification system World Reference Base for Soil Resources (2015)

Abstract The recent editions of the Polish Soil Classification (PSC) have supplied the correlation table with the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), which is the international soil classification most commonly used by Polish pedologists. However, the latest WRB edition (IUSS Working Group WRB 2015) has introduced significant changes and many of the former correlations became outdated. The current paper presents the closest equivalents of the soil orders, types and subtypes of the recent edition of the PSC (2011) and WRB (IUSS Working Group WRB 2015). The proposals can be used for general correlation of soil units on maps and in databases, and may support Polish soil scientists to establish the most appropriate equivalents for soils under study, as well as make PSC more available for an international society.

Variability of soil properties in an intensively cultivated experimental field

Abstract The aim of the study was to determine whether long-term intensive cultivation that used variable ploughing and fertilisation technologies and schemes influences the differentiation of soil properties which may impact the results of growing experiments in a relatively small experimental field (0.1 ha). The field under study is located in Wrocław, in an agricultural experimental station that has been operating for more than 60 years. A transformation of rusty gleyic soils (Brunic Gleyic Arenosols) into anthropogenic black earths (Gleyic Phaeozems (Arenic)) was noticed. The content of organic carbon and nitrogen, pH and the content of exchangeable base cations in the plough layer were positively (statistically and spatially) correlated and their increased values were observed in soils with a deeper and darker plough level. The present differentiation of the physical and chemical properties of soils in the experimental field do not result from such primary soil-forming factors as a kind and texture of parent material, topography, moisture regime, or (micro-)climatic conditions, which are not differentiated within the field, but from various intensity of former cultivation on individual sections of the experimental field. The variability cśfficient of the crucial soil properties was found to exceed 30%, which might significantly influence the results of micro-plot vegetation experiments.

Lithological discontinuity in Glossic Planosols (Albeluvisols) of Lower Silesia (SW Poland)

Abstract The paper focuses on Glossic Planosols (formerly Albeluvisols) with sandy topsoil widely represented in the northeastern part of Lower Silesia (SW Poland), in the range of tills from the Odra and Warta glaciations (Riss glaciation). The aim of the study was to characterize the texture of these soils in the context of the origin of parent materials and present-day pedogenic processes. Both the sedimentological and granulometric indexes, unbalances clay (and silt) fraction, and ventifact pavement at the contact of underlying loam and topsoil sandy layer confirm, that the textural differentiation of the topsoil and subsoil horizons has not resulted from the pedogenic processes, but primarily from the lithological discontinuity of glacial and post-glacial parent materials. Particle-size distribution and granulometric indexes of albeluvic tongues in the glossic horizon also confirm that the tongues has not been formed by eluviation of the fine fractions from the loamy material, but primarily by filling the initial thin crack with the sandy material. The coarser-textured tongues foster a deep infiltration and stagnation of water, and the development of reductic conditions allows further widening and deepening of the albeluvic tongues.

Geneza, Właściwości i Klasyfikacja Czarnych Ziem w Polsce

Streszczenie Czarne ziemie, w randze osobnej j ednostki, wyodrębnione zostały przez Miklaszewskiego ze względu na ich poba-giennągenezę, podmokłość oraz specyficzny typ „kwaśnej” próchnicy. Z czasem zaczęto określać tym mianem także inne podmokłe gleby z głębokim poziomem próchnicznym o różnej genezie: (1) czarne ziemie pojeziorne (pobagienne), (2) czarne ziemie błotne (z przeobrażenia gleb torfowo- i torfiastoglej owych), (3) czarne ziemie deluwialne, (4) czarne ziemie ukształtowane w procesie werty-lizacji, (5) czarne ziemie powstałe w efekcie zwiększenia wilgotności czarnoziemów łąkowo-leśnych, (6) poligenetyczne czarne ziemie z poziomem iluwiacji iłu. Klasyfikacja gleb o tak zróżnicowanej genezie musi opierać się na wspólnych kryteriach morfologicznych, to j est zgodnie z trendem wyznaczonym przez systematyki gleb Polski z lat 1989 i 2011. Jednak przynależność do czarnych ziem nie zawsze jest jednoznaczna, ze względu na nieprecyzyjne rozgraniczenie w punktach stycznych z pokrewnymi glebami, w tym z czarnoziemami (intensywność oglejenia), madami i glebami deluwialnymi (stratyfikacja materiału macierzystego i/lub poziomu mollic), vertisolami (obecność poziomów mollic i vertic) oraz glebami murszastymi (brak różnic w kryteriach diagnostycznych). Ponadto, uzupełnienia wymagają charakterystyki czarnych ziem pod kątem rodzaju oglejenia (gruntowego oraz opadowego), rodzaju węglanów (wtórnych i pierwotnych) oraz obecności poziomu diagnostycznego anthric.

Proposal of English equivalents for the soil taxa names in the Polish Soils Classification

Abstract The article presents proposed English translations of all names of soil units (orders, types and subtypes) listed by Polish Soils Classification, PSC (2011). The proposal has been elaborated based on the recent Polish and foreign literature, using uniform and consistent criteria. Due to the lack of soil names translation in the recent, fifth edition of PSC, the suggested English nomenclature was basically derived from the previous, fourth edition of PSC (1989). However, significant amendment and numerous additions to the latest version were proposed. A uniform and comprehensive system of soil taxa translations may help to avoid nomenclature chaos in the English papers of Polish authors, which intentionally base or refer to PSC.

The pools of soil organic carbon accumulated in the surface layers of forest soils in the Karkonosze Mountains, SW Poland

Abstract Differentiation of soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations and pools in topsoil horizons of forest soils in the Karkonosze Mountains was examined in relation to environmental and human-induced factors, with special focus on altitudinal gradient, related climatic conditions, and a zonality of vegetation. The samples were collected from the forest litter and soil layers 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm, in 621 plots arranged in a regular network of monitoring established in the Karkonosze National Park. The concentrations of SOC were determined in laboratory and used for calculation of SOC pools. Four elevation zones were distinguished for analysis: 500–750 m, 750–1000 m, 1000–1250 m, and >1250 m. The concentrations of SOC in forest litter (38.3–44.1%) showed an insignificant increasing trend with altitude. The concentrations of SOC in the layers 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm, were in a very broad range 0.27–47.6%, thus indicating a high differentiation, and also tended to insignificantly increase along with altitude. The largest share of accumulated SOC pools was proved to be present in the layer 0–10 cm, except for the highest zone >1250 m in which forest litter contains slightly larger amounts of SOC. The pools of SOC accumulated in the 20 cm thick topsoil and forest litter turned out to vary considerably (3.6–58.2 kg·m−2), but the mean values and medians in particular elevation zones fall in a narrow range 10.5–11.9 kg·m−2, close to the values reported from the Alps. The lack of statistical significance of reported tendencies was explained by a monitoring sites-oriented random soil sampling, i.e. in forest stands of various age, species-composition and degradation degree.