1 / 6

Mystery Soil of the Amazon

Confronting. Terra Preta. Soil Minerals. Carbon. Climate Change. “dark earth” ( Portuguese ). Mystery Soil of the Amazon. Amazon Basin, Brazil. Local farmers prize Terra Preta yields three times greater than adjacent infertile tropical soils sustained fertility in intensive use

grace
Download Presentation

Mystery Soil of the Amazon

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Confronting Terra Preta Soil Minerals Carbon Climate Change “dark earth” (Portuguese) Mystery Soil of the Amazon Amazon Basin, Brazil • Local farmers prize Terra Preta • yields three times greater than adjacent infertile tropical soils • sustained fertility in intensive use • dug up and sold as potting soil Oxisol predominant Amazon soils acidic notoriously infertile very low carbon poor nutrient capacity click to continue

  2. Terra Preta Soil Minerals Carbon “dark earth” (Portuguese) Amazon Basin, Brazil • Small Patches • average: 20 hectares (50 acres) • up to 350 hectares (865 acres) • near settlements & on bluffs • cultural debris • animal & fish bones • embedded pottery sherds • Age • 800 - 4000 years • radio-carbon dating (charcoal) • recent research: 6000 years • Aerial Surveys • 10% of total land area • able to feed 5-10 million people click to continue

  3. Terra Preta Soil Minerals Carbon Charcoal “dark earth” (Portuguese) Amazon Basin, Brazil reduced carbon • High Carbon • up to 9% • compared with .5% in other soils • sometimes over 20% • two to six feet deep • most carbon is charcoal • High Nutrients • Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) • Calcium (+) • Phosphorus (-) • Nitrogen (+ / -) • High Microbial Activity • “microbial reef” • Soil Food Web • High diversity, high stability • Nitrogen-fixing bacteria click to continue

  4. Terra Preta Soil Minerals Carbon Charcoal reduced carbon How did Amazon natives create these remarkably fertile and productive soils? How did these soils sustain their remarkable productivity for five centuries? What can we learn from these soils to sustain soil productivity today? Can this way to create these tropical soils give insights to improve temperate soils? Can this sequester carbon in soil to help reverse global warming? click to continue

  5. Confronting Climate Change Carbon suck CO2 out of Earth’s atmosphere Negative photosynthesis fixed into Carbohydrates In tropical Amazon, replacing slash & burn with slash & char can create sustainable soil fertility initiate permanent agriculture end rainforest destruction plant biomass Terra Preta pyrolysis Cape Cod beach sand heavy Amazon clay positive feedback loop transform into Biochar Any strategy to increase arable land, and improve productivity & yield on existing arable land should receive research priority. sequestered carbon Robert Wells our question is: inoculate Can this work in our “temperate” climate? Organic Farmer Orleans, Massachusetts boost soil fertility restore Soil Biology grow more click to continue

  6. Confronting Climate Change Carbon suck CO2 out of Earth’s atmosphere Negative photosynthesis fixed into Carbohydrates plant biomass pyrolysis positive feedback loop transform into Biochar sequestered carbon our question is: inoculate Can this work in our “temperate” zone? boost soil fertility restoreSoil Biology grow more click to continue

More Related