Environmental soil science (146036)

The course provides students with the broad general knowledge on soil genesis and classification, soil properties and processes, soil mapping and geostatistics.
The course trains students to fully understand and critically evaluate the importance of soil resources in certain sectors, as well as the implementation of environmental policies.
It also enables students to understand and explain the relationships between the soil and the environment in terms of agriculture, forestry, water management, as well as the impact of different land uses on the environment and the impact of environmental management on the soil.

Obveze nastavnika

- to give lectures, exercises and seminars as scheduled; to provide all necessary information and material concerning the Course; to control class attendance; to provide consultations; to evaluate seminar papers (laboratory reports) and their presentations; to organize, conduct and evaluate partial tests during the semester and final exam during the exam terms.

Obveze studenta

- to attend lectures, exercises and seminars; to create and orally present seminar papers in due time.

1. Soils as natural resources (L); Relations of soils and environment (L) - Soil and land definitions and roles in the environment, pedosphere as a part of geosphere, importance of soil; Soil development, soil-forming factors (parent material, climate, organisms and land-use, relief, time of soil formation), horizonation and haploidization soil-forming processes.
2. Composition of soil (L); Soil morphology and horizon designations, soil sampling principles (E) – Introduction to soil phases (solid, liquid, gaseous); Soil morphological characteristics and their determination, soil horizon designation (FAO, 2006), basic soil sampling methods and equipment.
3. Soil-forming factors and processes, soil morphology and sampling (E); Soil solid phase (L) - Field soil survey, examples of soil development across varying environmental conditions, soil sampling; Soil texture and structure, soil density and porosity, relationships among different physical properties.
4. Soil liquid phase (L); Soil gas phase (L) - Soil water regime and balance, hydropedological constants, energy state of water in soil, water flow in saturated and unsaturated soil, measurements of soil water content and water flow; Composition and movement of soil air, soil respiration, measurements of soil aeration.
5. Soil thermal regime (L); Basic soil physical analyses (E) - Atmospheric energy balance, solar radiation, thermal soil properties, measurement of soil temperature; Laboratory determination of soil particle size distribution, water retention, density, porosity, air capacity.
6. Forms and classification of soil organic matter (L); Humus composition and properties (L) - Living biomass in soils, soil organic detritus, humus, factors influencing soil organic matter transformation, mineralization and humification; Humic substances (humic acid, fulvic acid, humin) and their functional groups, charge development on soil organics, types of humus, benefits of organic matter for physical, chemical and biological soil properties.
7. Basic soil chemical analyses (E); Soil solution chemistry I (L) - Humus content and quality, content of soil carbonates, soil pH; Soil solution concentration and composition; soil acidity, alkalinity, salinity, and sodicity – causes and implications on the environment; soil redox potential.
8. Soil classification (L); WRB soil classification system (S) - Principles and types of soil classification systems, Soil Taxonomy classification system, World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) classification system; Soil classification according to the WRB system and the FAO (2006) Guidelines.
9. WRB soil classification system (S), Soil mapping and use of soil information systems (L) - Soil classification according to the WRB system and the FAO (2006) Guidelines – practical work ending with individual presentations of the results; Basic principles of soil survey, soil mapping, and soil/land information systems.
10. Soil solution chemistry II (L), Exchange reaction in soils (L) - Soil solution concentration and composition; soil pH; Soil acidity – natural and anthropogenic causes and consequences; Soil alkalinity, salinity and sodicity – causes and implications on environment; Soil redox potential. Ion exchange selectivity; The exchange process; Thermodynamic expressions: Empirical or Semi-Theorethical Expressions, Beckett – Q/I relationship, Derivation of the Ca-Mg exchange function; Quantitative description of soil solution- colloid interface; Adsorption, common sorption isotherms types; Sorption of inorganics on soil surface; Adsorption of organics on soil surface.
11. Exchange reaction in soils (L), Soil solution chemistry and exchange reactions (S), Soil solid phase (L) - Ion exchange selectivity; The exchange process; Thermodynamic expressions: Empirical or Semi-Theorethical Expressions, Beckett – Q/I relationship, Derivation of the Ca-Mg exchange function; Quantitative description of soil solution- colloid interface; Adsorption, common sorption isotherms types; Sorption of inorganics on soil surface; Adsorption of organics on soil surface.Ions in solution: concept of activity, activity coefficients, complexation and chelation reactions.
12. Assessment and management of contaminated sites (L), Geochemical behaviour of trace metals (L), bioavailability and ecotoxicology (L) - Theoretical background of the issue - the nature of contaminated land, characterisation of soil pollution, including its impact on water resources and other parts of the environment; Factors and processes controlling metal solubility and bioavailability; Models / concepts of phytoavailability (BLM, free ion activity model); methods of assessment.
13. Remediation and risk assessment (L), Ecological risk assessment - case studies (E) - Approaches of risk assessment of polluted soils and ash land fills; pathways of risk and endpoints; Treatments and solutions to show complexity of the issue, pH and metal fluxes, use of novel techniques (DGT); site-specific risk assessment.
14. Ecological risk assessment - case studies (E), Geochemical methods for assessment of soil contamination by trace metals (L) - Treatments and solutions to show complexity of the issue, pH and metal fluxes, use of novel techniques (DGT); site-specific risk assessment; Factors controlling trace metals behaviour in soils; environmental soil functions; trace metals characteristics and soil properties; methods of bioavailability assessment.
15. Contribution of soil studies to geochemical mapping (L), Soil spatial variation (E) - Merging classification with geostatistics; soil-oriented geochemical mapping; baseline; identification of the pedogeochemical contents of selected heavy metals as a function of sediment provenance, soil maturity and land use; Statistical aspects of spatial variation; basics of spatial interpolation methods, sampling design, basic GIS visualization. Soil spatial variation - Statistical aspects of spatial variation; basics of spatial interpolation methods, sampling design, basic GIS visualization.

1. Castrignano A. 2011. Introduction to spatial data processing. CRA - SCA, Bari, Italija
2. Zovko M., Romić M. 2011. Soil contamination by trace metals: Geochemical behaviour as an element of risk assessment (poglavlje u knjizi: Earth and Environmental Sciences). Ahmad Dar, Imran (ur.). Rijeka, InTech, p. 437-456
3. FAO, 2006. Guidelines for soil description, fourth ed. FAO, Rome.
4. Lectures / Powerpoint presentations
5. IUSS Working Group WRB, 2014. World reference base for soil resources 2014. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106, FAO, Rome.

1. Kim H.T: (1994): Environmental soil science. Marcel Dekker, INC, New Yiork
2. Brady C.N., Weil R.R. (2002): The Nature and Properties of Soils, 13th Edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey
3. Buol, S.W., Hole, F.D., McCracken, R.J., Southard, R.J. (1997): Soil genesis and classification. Fourth Edition, Iowa state University Press/Ames, Iowa
4. Bohn H.L., McNeal B.L:, O´Connor G. (2001): Soil Chemistry, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
5. Jury W.A., Horton R. (2004): Soil Physics, 6th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
6. Environmental Chemistry of Soils, Murray B. McBride, Oxford University Press, 1994.

• Soil in the Environment (BOKU – University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna)
• General Soil Science (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison)