We conducted two laboratory experiments to examine the effects of fertilisation and agitation (aeration) on crude oil degradation in two soils with differential nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) availability. Two soils that had been spiked with crude oil two years before were mixed with nitrogen and/or phosphorus at three different levels and subsequently incubated 28 days (Exp. 1). In experiment...

Abstract The occurrence of fingered preferential flow depends on both flow and porous media characteristics. The boundary condition of unsaturated infiltration has been investigated to assess whether it produces unstable wetting in homogeneous coarse sands. Laboratory tracer experiments were conducted in two coarse sand materials; for each sand material two initial conditions of air dry and fie...

The invasive treeMelaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) Blake is widely distributed throughout peninsular Florida and poses a signiÞcant threat to species diversity in the wetland systems of the Everglades. Mitigation of this threat includes the areawide release campaign of the biological control agentsOxyops vitiosa Pascoe and Boreioglycaspis melaleucaeMoore. We summarize the results of this release e...

The mass attenuation coefficients (μs) for five different soil samples were measured at 661.6, 1173.2 and 1332.5 keV photon energies. The soil samples were separately irradiated with (137)Cs and (60)Co (370 kBq) radioactive point gamma sources. The measurements were made by performing transmission experiments with a 2″ × 2″ NaI(Tl) scintillation detector, which had an energy resolution of 7% at...

The adsorption of chromium species in soils has received much attention because of its toxicity and bioavailabilities, which are adsorption depended. There are very little studies on adsorption of chromium in sandy loam soil. Hence, this paper presents the Cr adsorption capacity of sandy loam soil under chromium spiked condition. A batch technique was used to perform cr adsorption studies. Soil...

This paper presents the application of a frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR) sensor designed for soil salinity assessment of sandy mineral soils in a wide range of soil moisture and bulk electrical conductivity, through the determination of soil complex dielectric permittivity spectra in the frequency range 10-500 MHz. The real part of dielectric permittivity was assessed from the 380-440 MHz,...

In this Letter, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple method to provide additional information on the electro-mechanical properties of soils by electrical conductivity measurements. The AC electrical conductance of the soil is measured while it is exposed to a periodic vibration. The vibration-induced density fluctuation implies a corresponding conductivity fluctuation that can be ...

The invasive tree Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) Blake is widely distributed throughout peninsular Florida and poses a significant threat to species diversity in the wetland systems of the Everglades. Mitigation of this threat includes the areawide release campaign of the biological control agents Oxyops vitiosa Pascoe and Boreioglycaspis melaleucae Moore. We summarize the results of this relea...

Persistence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 in the environment is a major concern to vegetable and fruit growers where farms and livestock production are in close proximity. The objectives were to determine the effects of preplant fumigation treatment on the survival of E. coli O157:H7 in two soils and the effects of indigenous bacterial populations on the survival of this pathogen. Real-...

Three techniques for treating fish ponds with agricultural limestone were evaluated in ponds with clayey soils in Brazil and in ponds with sandy soils in South Africa. Amounts of agricultural limestone equal to the lime requirement of bottom soils were applied by the following methods to each of three ponds: (1) direct application over the pond surface; (2) spread uniformly over the bottom of t...