Desert soils

Semiarid Lands and Deserts Soil Resource and Reclamation, edited by J. Skujin ... 

Ku T-L, Bull WE, Frieman ST, Knauss KG (1979) °Th/ " U dating of pedogenic carbonates in gravelly desert soils of Vidal Valley, Southeastern California. Geol Soc Am Bull 90 1063-1073 Ku TH, Krauss KG, Mathieu GG (1977) Uranium in open ocean concentration and isotopic composition. Deep Sea Res 24 1005-1017... 

All soils contain soluble salts, but their concentration is low. The salt content of most arid soils is, however, much higher. Salts in desert soils are usually derived from three main sources (1) deposition of wind-blown salt spray or dust (2) in situ weathering of salt-containing rocks or sediments, and (3) upward movement with the capillary flow from a shallow salty groundwater. Along the coastline, some salinization may occur through intrusion and flooding by seawater. 

Water soluble Se in the North West region varied from 0.0002-0.0429 mg/kg. Water soluble Se accounted for 2.13-6.34% of the total Se in the soils of North China. Selenium is an essential element to animals and humans. When water soluble Se in soils is less than 0.003 mg/kg, Se deficiency in animal and human beings may occur. EDTA-extractable Se in the alkali desert soils of North China was in the range of 0.011-0.090 mg/kg this was about 5-11% of the total Se in the soils. Selenium deficiency was mostly found in the Loess Plateau and Tibet region. NH4OAc-cxtractable Ni in soils from Beijing was 0.29 mg/kg. 

McFadden L.D., McDonald E.V., Wells S.G., Anderson K., Quade J., Forman S.L. The vesicular layer and carbonate collars of desert soils and pavements formation, age and relation to climate change. Geomorphology 1998 24 101-145. 

Pillai SD, Pepper IL (1991) Transposon Tn5 as an identifiable marker in rhizobia survival and genetic stability of Tn5 mutant bean rhizobia under temperature stressed conditions in desert soils. Microbial Ecol 21 21-33 Pote J, Ceccherini MT, Van VT, Rosselli W, Wildi W, Simonet P, Vogel TM (2003) Fate and transport of antibiotic resistance genes in saturated soil columns. Eur J Soil Biol 39 65-71... 

Class 5 (the least sensitive) soil include Kashtanozem, Brown soil and Sierozem soil zones in the Plateau of Inner Mongolia and the Loess Plateau, Desert soil zones in He-xi-zou-lang and the Talimu River Basin, Subalpine Steppe soil, Alpine Steppe soil and Alpine Desert soil in the Plateau of Tibet. These kinds of soils, belonging to the soil class of Xerosol or Alpine soil, consist of easy weathering minerals such as carbonate. They show alkaline reactions, with weak leaching and sparse vegetation. Those kinds of soils are insensitive to acid deposition. 

Peters V, Conrad R. 1995. Methanogenic and other strictly anaerobic bacteria in desert soil and other oxic soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 61 1673-6. 

Allelochemicals in desert soils are predictably less prone to leaching and rapid biodegradation than are soils in humid environments. 

Desert Variable depending on location Most are large, Dp > 1 p,m contain desert soil elements such as Fe, Si, Al, and Ca... 

Gile LH, Peterson FF, Grossman RB (1966) Morphological and genetic sequences of carbonate accumulation in desert soils. Soil Sci 101 347-360... 

Evans, R. L., and Jurinak, J. J. (1976). Kinetics of phosphate release from a desert soil. Soil Sci. 121, 205-211. 

Al-Musallam, A. A. (1988). Distribution of keratinophilic fungi in desert soil of... 

Baiba, M. T., Al-Daher, R., Al-Awadhi, N., Chino, H. Tsuji, H. (1998b). Bioremediation of oil-contaminated desert soil the Kuwaiti experience. Environment International, 24, 163-73. 

Yet another example of natural chemical bonding is solidification of desert soils to build bird houses in Egypt. Nile silt was mixed with desert grass and river water to make tower shapes on concrete roofs (Fig. 1.2). Holes made in these towers provide shelter to the birds, which eventually are sold for food. The minerals from such rich soils consolidate when they are mixed with water and are dried in the intense sun of the desert. 

Solidification of minerals in carbonate rocks or in sea shells, or that of silica and alumina in lateritic or desert soils, is a very slow process. It takes years and centuries and even geological time to consolidate some minerals. Unfortunately, little is known on the exact chemical reactions and the resulting hardening process. As a result, the chemical hardening in nature cannot be translated into technological applications where accelerated hardening and solidification are desired. 

Several oxidized or degraded carotenoids were isolated from the algal mat obtained from desert soil. 3-Ketoretrodehydrocarotene (28) was suggested for one component, but the enolic structures proposed for two C29H40O2 isomers seem highly unlikely. 

Amundson R., Wang Y., Chadwick O., Trumbore S., McEadden L., McDonald E., Wells S., and DeNiro M. (1994b) Eactors and processes governing the C content of carbonate in desert soils. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 125, 385-405. 

Marian G. M., Schlesinger W. H., and Fonteyn P. J. (1985) Caldep a regional model for soil CaCOa (calcite) deposition in southwestern deserts. Soil Sci. 139, 468-481. 

Peterson P. D. (1980) Holocene desert soil formation under sodium salt influence in a playa-margin environment. Quat. Res. 13, 172-186. 

Sutter B., Amundson R., Ewing S., Rhodes K. W., and McKay C. W. (2002) The chemistry and mineralogy of Atacama Desert soils a possible analog for Mars soils. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, pp. 71A-0443. 

Capo R. C. and Chadwick O. A. (1999) Sources of strontium and calcium in desert soil and calcrete. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 170, 61-72. 

Phillips F. M., Mattick J. L., Duval T. A., Elmore D., and Kubik P. W. (1988) Chlorine-36 and tritium from nuclear weapons fallout as tracers for long-term liquid and vapor movement in desert soils. Water Resour. Res. 24, 1877-1891. 

Scanlon B. R. (1992) Evaluation of liquid and vapor water flow in desert soils based on chlorine-36 and tritium tracers and nonisothermal flow simulations. Water Resour. Res. 28, 285-298. 

Jones C. G. and Shachak M. (1990) Fertilization of the desert soil by rock-eating snails. Nature 346, 839-841. 

Peterjohn W. T. (1991) Denitrification enzyme content and activity in desert soils. Soil Biol. Biochem. 23, 845 -855. 

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