Abstract:

In this study, the distribution patterns of physical (sand%, loam%, clay%, pH and organic matter%o) and chemical (calcium carbonate (CaCO3), sodium (Na+), magnesium (Mg+2), phosphorus (P), boron (B), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn)) parameters of soil commonly assayed in analytical chemistry laboratories, are reported. Three representative areas (lowland (LL), semi-mountainous (SM), and coastal (C)) and 170 sample sites were selected, 510 soil samples were collected and analyzed for a 3-years period (2002-2004), in the prefecture of Larissa, Thessaly, central Greece. In each studied site, the kind of cultivation is also reported. Soils in LL area of the prefecture of Larissa were found to be rich in organic matter, Mg, B, but poor in Fe, Mn and Zn, when compared to the other two sites. The studied SM area of Larissa's prefecture constituted from clayey soils showed big concentrations of Mg, Zn, high value of clay and low value of sand, when compared to the other two studied areas. The studied C area is characterized by the sandy soils near the coastal areas of the prefecture of Larissa. In each studied area, the parameters are principally separated into two main clusters, each of them divided additionally into sub-clusters with slight differences. Six latent factors explain 78.1%, 74.3%, and 74.6% of the total variance of the LL-site, SM-site, and C-site, respectively, which is an indication for the factor analysis model adequacy.

Notes:

Cited By :1Export Date: 2 November 2015CODEN: FENBECorrespondence Address: Papaioannou, A.; Department of Medical Laboratories, Faculty of Health and Care, Technological Education Institute of Larissa, 41110 Larissa, Greece; email: papaioannou@teilar.grReferences: Communication of the European Communities (2002) Towards a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection. COM (2002) 179Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 on establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal L 327, 1-73Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. Official Journal L 143, 56-75Beck, L., Römbke, J., Breure, A.M., Mulder, C., Considerations of the use of soil ecological classification and assessment concepts in soil protection (2005) Ecotoxicology and Environment Safety, 62, pp. 189-200;Maticic, B., The impact of agriculture on ground water quality in Slovenia: Standards and strategy (1999) Agricultural Water Management, 40, pp. 235-247; Eckhardt, D.A.V., Stackelberg, P.E., Relation of ground-water quality to land use on Long Island, New York (1995) Ground Water, 33, pp. 1019-1033; Bloom, W.E.H., Basic concepts: Degradation, resilience, and rehabilitation (1998) Methods for assessment of soil degradation, pp. 1-16. , Lal, R, Blum, W.E.H, Valentine, C. and Stewart, B.A, eds, CRC Press, Boca Raton, New York, pp; Bloom, W.E.H. (2002) Environmental protection through sustainable soil management, a holistic approach. In: M. Pagliai and R. Jones (Eds.): Sustainable Land Management - Environmental Protection - A Soil Physical Approach. - Advances in Geoecology, 35, 1-8. Catena Verlag GmbHDown to Earth: Soil degradation and sustainable development in Europe (2000) Environmental Issues Series, 16. , European Environment Agency , Number; Morgan, R.P.C., (1995) Soil Erosion and Conservation, , Second Edition. Longman Group, Essex, England; van der Knijff, J.M., Jones, R.J.A., Montanarella, L., (2000) Soil Erosion Risk Assessment in Europe, EUR 19044 EN, , 34pp; van Lynden, G.W.J., (1994) The European Soil Resource: Current status of soil degradation in Europe: Causes, Impacts and need for action, , Council of Europe, Strasbourg; van Lynden, G.W.J., European soil resources (1995) Nature and Environment, (71). , Council of Europe, Strasbourg; Zdruli, P., Jones, R., Montanarella L. (1999) Organic matter in the soils of Southern Europe, DGXI.E3, BrusselsAzevedo, J., Stout, P.R., Farm animal manures: An overview of their role in the agricultural environment (1974) California Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service Manual, 44, Ag, , Publication, Univ. of Calif. Berkeley, Calif. 94720; Buckman, H.O., Brady, N.C., (1960) The nature and properties of soils, , 6th edition, Macmillan, New York; Russell, E.W., (1961) Soil conditions and plant growth, , 9th edition, Longmans, London; Tisdale, S.L., Nelson, W.L., Beaten, J.D., (1985) Soil fertility and fertilizers, , Macmillan Publishing Company, New York; Waters, A.G., Oades, J.M., Organic matter in water stable aggregates (1991) Advances in soil organic matter research: The impact on agriculture and the environment, pp. 163-174. , W.S. Wilson Ed, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England; Zdruli, P., Almaraz, R., Eswaran, H., Developing land resource information for sustainable land use in Albania (1998) Advances in Geoecology, 31, pp. 153-159; Welch, C.D., Fits, J.N., Some factors affecting soil sampling (1956) Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 20, pp. 54-57; (1985) Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, , American Public Health Association APHA, 16th edition, New York; Simeonov, V., Einax, J.W., Stanimirova, I., Kraft, J., Environmetric modelling and interpretation of river monitoring data (2002) Analytical Bioanalytical Chemistry, 374, pp. 898-905; Vanderginste, B., Massart, D.L., Buydens, L., De Jong, S., Lewi, P., Smeyers-Verbeke, J., (1998) Handbook of Chemometrics and Qualimetrics, , Eisevier, Amsterdam; Massart, D.L., Kaufman, L., (1983) The interpretation of chemical data by the use of Cluster Analysis, , J. Wiley, New York

Website