Forests in Europe are, at present not endangered by soil erosion, however, this can change with climate change or intensified forest management practices. Using a newly established network of plots in beech forests across Europe, the aims of this study were 1) discrimination of soil properties and erodibility indices in relation to bedrock, 2) determination of geochemical properties and Corg influencing erodibility, and 3) assessment of the effect of soil depth on erodibility indices. Seventy-six soil samples from 20 beech forests were collected in 11 countries to quantify soil properties influencing erodibility indices clay ratio, modified clay ratio, sodium adsorption ratio, and oxides ratio. Results indicate that dominant soil properties, determined by bedrock, that correlate with forest soil
erodibility indices are: Corg, pH, EC, Ca and Na ion concentrations, total-water soluble cations, and the % of sand. According to the tested indices, soil susceptibility to erosion follows the sequence: granite>andesite>sandstone>quartzite>limestone. Deeper soil horizons on granite are more susceptible to erosion than surface horizons, while this is not the case for soils on limestones. In conclusion, forest management should consider the predisposition of different soil types to erosion.
Biological markers (BMs) are organic compounds in oils in which a precursor
is known, during the transformation of organic matter these compounds
undergo certain structural and stereochemical changes. Based on the
established precursors of BMs, the origin of the examined oils can be
estimated, and based on the intensity and type of changes, geological
history. It includes defining the deposition medium, the degree of
maturation, the length of the oil migration path, the degree of
biodegradation. The most studied and applied BMs are normal alkanes,
isoprenoid aliphatic alkanes pristane and phytane, and polycyclic alkanes of
the sterane and terapane type. On the other hand, in environmental
chemistry, these compounds can significantly contribute to the
identification of petroleum pollutants, as well as to the assessment of the
migration mechanism and the intensity of biodegradation. This review paper
first presents the results related to the application of BMs in organic
geochemical correlations of oil in the southeastern part of the Pannonian
Basin (I). The second part provides an overview of those researches in which
the same BMs were used in the identification of oil pollutants and in
monitoring its changes during migration and biodegradation in rivers and
river sediments of Serbia (II).
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