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Geoecological legacies of pre-industrial charcoal burning – Research questions and approaches
(2019)
Der Einfluss von Relikten der historischen Köhlerei auf Bodentemperatur und –wärmeleitfähigkeit
(2019)
Die Beimengung von Holzkohle in Böden kann deutlichen Einfluss auf die physikalischen Bodeneigenschaften haben. Solche Effekte treten nicht nur in gezielt mit Holzkohle („biochar“) angereicherten Ackerböden auf, sondern auch auf den Standorten historischer Holzkohlemeiler (HKM), die in vielen Waldgebieten in großer Zahl vorkommen. Die prägendste Eigenschaft solcher Böden auf HKM ist eine technogene, kohlereiche Substratschicht, die über dem natürlich entwickelten Bodenprofil abgelagert ist. In jüngster Zeitwurden in mehreren Studien ein von den umliegenden Waldböden abweichendes Vegetationswachstum und eine abweichende C-Dynamik auf HKM festgestellt. Welche Bodeneigenschaften der HKM solche Unterschiede bewirken, ist aber noch unklar. Ein möglicher, bisher kaum untersuchter Einflussfaktor ist die Bodentemperatur. Ziel dieser Studie war es, den Einfluss von Holzkohlebeimengungen auf die Wärmeleitfähigkeit und das Bodentemperaturregime von HKM-Böden zu charakterisieren. Untersucht wurden HKM auf sandigem Substrat in der Lausitz (Brandenburg). An zwei Standorten wurden Profile auf HKM und benachbarten Waldböden für ein Monitoring der Bodentemperatur über jeweils ein Jahr instrumentiert, die Wärmeleitfähigkeit von HKM-Schicht, Ah-, fAh-und Bv-Horizont wurde im Labor bestimmt. In einem Laborexperiment wurde zusätzlich die Wärmeleitfähigkeit von künstlich hergestellten Proben aus sandigem Substrat und Holzkohlefragmenten in unterschiedlichen Mischungsverhältnissen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine deutlich verringerte Wärmeleitfähigkeit des kohlereichen Substrats. Damit verbunden zeigen sich im Monitoring geringere Schwankungen der Bodentemperatur auf den HKM in tiefen Bereichen des Profils, in den obersten Dezimetern wurden hingegen stärkere Schwankungen der Bodentemperatur festgestellt. Insgesamt zeigt sich damit ein noch über die technogene Substratschicht hinaus wirksamer Einfluss der typischen Eigenschaften des kohlereichen HKM-Substrats auf die Bodentemperatur.
Aged biochar enriched substrate increases SOM stocks of forest soils in the North German Lowland
(2019)
Recentfindings of more than 4000 relict charcoal hearths (RCH) in the forest district Tauer (Brandenburg, Germany) raise the question to what extent soil properties are controlled by a legacy effect of historical charcoal burning. RCH sites are characterized bya substantial admixture of charcoal fragments of varying particle sizes constituting an anthropogenic addition of carbon to the natural forest soil. Ages of about 250 years proven by dendrochronological dating of larger charcoal pieces on RCHs allow for assessing long-term effects of biochar application on forest soils. In this study, we measured the geometry and SOM content of 20 RCH sites in a selected part of the forest district. The results are the basis for a projection of RCH SOM stocks on a 40 ha forest plot with 120 RCH sites. In the range of statistical uncertainties it is shown that RCHs add between 13 % and 32 % of SOM to the SOM stock of the natural forest soil in the studied plot. These substantial amounts of SOM are so far not recognized by any soil survey or forest soil inventories of SOM and SOC stocks. In light of an increasing amount of studies that detect RCH sites in forests of Europe and the USA in the range of tens-and even hundreds of thousands, the question has to be asked how to address this legacy effect in ongoing scientific discussions about soil carbon stocks, carbon sequestration and the long-term effects of biochar application into soils.
The North European lowland has been formed by glacial and periglacial processes in the Late Pleistocene. Multiple reshaping since the Late Glacial considerably changed the landscape up to and including especially historic times. Sediment sequences and (fossilized) soils can improve our understanding of Late Quaternary landscape development, but mapping of buried soils and surfaces is often limited to single outcrops. Ongoing archaeological rescue excavations in the pre-field of the open-cast mine Cottbus-Nord (northeastern Germany) with dense excavation trenches in an about 10 ha dune and drift sand area reveal multilayered sediment sequences with fossilized soils and sediments from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. Archaeological findings ranging from Mesolithic flint stones to an about 200 year old ceramics in eolian sediments covering plow horizons and wheel tracks suggest that eolian relocation of sandy material was intensive about 200 years ago. Still unpublished OSL dating underline the intense eolian activity. Recent studies showed that between the 15Th to the 19Th century an iron smelter 5 km to the west of our study site was supplied with charcoal, which was produced in a forest 5 km east to our study
site. Our current findings about Late Holocene eolian activity raise the question if this eolian reshaping of the landscape is connected with the operation of the iron smelter either directly by transport or bog iron ore winning or indirectly by population pressure caused by the prospering iron smelter. Our ongoing research indicates, that already for historic land-use off-site effects causing further landscape changes have to be considered.
South Brandenburg is the central part of the North European Lowland (NEL) extending as a plain landscape from
the North and Baltic Sea to the foothills of the Central European Highlands and reaching from the Netherlands to Poland. Since many decades lignite opencast mines have been operating in this region which is known as the Lusatian mining district. The total land demand in Lusatia is about 852 square kilometres and mining will continue
for many more years or even decades. Large-scale outcrops resulting from these mining activities are excellent archives to study the younger Earth’s history. The scope of our research in open cast mines is to reconstruct the
Late Quaternary landscape development and to distinguishing natural from anthropogenic forcing and processes. In more detail, the aims are to identify and to quantify the impact of past land uses, i.e. changes of vegetation, landforms and soils induced by agriculture and/or forestry. Here, we are presenting latest results from our research and review important findings giving novel insights into man-induced environmental changes in Lusatia within the past thousands years and thus improving the general understanding of Late Quaternary landscape dynamics.