1. Peat Soil Burning in the Mezzano Lowland (Po Plain, Italy): Triggering Mechanisms and Environmental Consequences
- Author
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Stefano Cremonini, Claudio Natali, Gian Marco Salani, Valentina Brombin, G. Bianchini, Gilmo Vianello, Livia Vittori Antisari, Mattia Ferrari, and Natali C., Bianchini G., Cremonini S., Salani G. M., Vianello G., Brombin V., Ferrari M, Vittori Antisari L.
- Subjects
Informatics ,Peat ,Earthquake Source Observations ,Epidemiology ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Biogeosciences ,Environmental protection ,PE10_11 ,Methane ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Nutrient ,Ionospheric Physics ,Mezzano Lowland ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Seismology ,Earthquake Interaction, Forecasting, and Prediction ,Water Science and Technology ,Global and Planetary Change ,Exploration Geophysics ,Gravity Methods ,Ocean Predictability and Prediction ,carbon stock and CO ,2 ,emission ,Consequence for the environment and human health ,northern Italy ,peat soils ,smoldering ,triggering mechanism ,Pollution ,Seismic Cycle Related Deformations ,Tectonic Deformation ,Critical Zone ,Oceanography: General ,Policy ,Time Variable Gravity ,Environmental chemistry ,Estimation and Forecasting ,Seismicity and Tectonics ,Space Weather ,Mathematical Geophysics ,Probabilistic Forecasting ,Research Article ,Peat smoldering, fired soil profile, Carbon loss, isotopic geochemistry, Mezzano lowland ,carbon stock and CO2 emission ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Satellite Geodesy: Results ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Radio Science ,Earthquake Dynamics ,TD169-171.8 ,Magnetospheric Physics ,Geodesy and Gravity ,Ionosphere ,Monitoring, Forecasting, Prediction ,Disaster Relief ,Gravity anomalies and Earth structure ,Continental Crust ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Ambientale ,Policy Sciences ,Soil carbon ,Bulk density ,Interferometry ,Soil structure ,chemistry ,Soil water ,Fire in the Earth System ,Environmental science ,Subduction Zones ,Sulfur Cycling ,Hydrology ,Transient Deformation ,Prediction ,Carbon ,Natural Hazards ,Forecasting - Abstract
The effects of peat burning on organic‐rich agricultural soils of the Mezzano Lowland (NE Italy) were evaluated on soil profiles variously affected by smoldering. Profiles were investigated for pH, electrical conductivity, bulk density, elemental and isotopic composition of distinct carbon (and nitrogen) fractions. The results suggest that the horizons affected by carbon loss lie at depths 10–70 cm, where the highest temperatures are developed. We suggest that the exothermal oxidation of methane (mediated by biological activity) plays a significant role in the triggering mechanism. In the interested soils we estimated a potential loss of Soil Organic Carbon of approximately 110 kg m −2 within the first meter, corresponding to 580 kg CO2 m −3. The released greenhouse gas is coupled with a loss of soil structure and nutrients. Moreover, the process plausibly triggers mobility of metals bound in organometallic complexes. All these consequences negatively affect the environment, the agricultural activities and possibly also health of the local people., Key Points Peat burning in the Mezzano Lowland is a process active since wetland reclamation and variously affects the soil structure and carbon contentThe main carbon loss occurs in the depth interval 10–70 cm, where temperature up to 750°C is recordedThe process induces negative effects to surrounding environment, agriculture activities and possibly also human health
- Published
- 2021