Papers by Marcin Świtoniak
Bulletin of Geography. Physical Geography Series
Soil erodibility is one of the crucial parameters for modelling soil erosion, expressed as the K-... more Soil erodibility is one of the crucial parameters for modelling soil erosion, expressed as the K-factor. The presented study tries to illustrate the spatial variance of K-factor on a local scale through the investigation of soil properties and descriptive spatial analysis utilising GIS tools at microscale in a young hummocky moraine landscape in Northern Poland. The results of the interpolation of K-factor values illustrate their changing from high values in eroded pedons on the tops of hummocks to low values in kettle holes. The middle position is occupied by slightly and non-eroded pedons. The mean weight results were very similar to data that were found on the scale of Europe and Poland. In landscapes with heterogeneous soil cover, there are significant differences in maps based on different approaches to data visualisation. There are advantages and disadvantages to both (1) referring to mean values of the K index for soil contours representing different soil types and (2) interp...
Hungarian Geographical Bulletin
Terroir refers to the geographical origin of wines. The landscape factors (topography, parent roc... more Terroir refers to the geographical origin of wines. The landscape factors (topography, parent rock, soil, microbial life, climate, natural vegetation) are coupled with cultural factors (cultivation history and technology, cultivars and rootstock) and all together define a terroir. The physical factors can be well visualized by a slope profile developed into a pedosequence showing the regular configuration of the relevant physical factors for a wine district. In the present study the generalized topographic pedosequence (or catena) and GIS spatial model of the Villány Hills, a historical wine producing region, serves for the spatial representation and characterization of terroir types. A survey of properties of Cabernet Franc grape juice allowed the comparison of 10 vineyards in the Villány Wine District, Southwest Hungary. Five grape juice properties (FAN, NH3, YAN, density and glucose + fructose content) have been found to have a moderate linear relationship (0.5 < r2 < 0.7) ...
Zarys treści: Rozdział zawiera charakterystykę pokrywy glebowej zagłębienia bezodpływowego w Retn... more Zarys treści: Rozdział zawiera charakterystykę pokrywy glebowej zagłębienia bezodpływowego w Retnie wykonaną na podstawie szczegółowych badań gleboznawczych. Pomimo niewielkiego areału obszar badań odznacza się znaczną różnorodnością jednostek glebowych. Denudacja odegrała znaczną rolę jedynie w rolniczej części badanego obszaru. Dno zagłębienia pokrywają gleby organiczne (torfowe oraz murszowe). W leśnej części zlewni dominują w pełni wykształcone autogeniczne gleby płowe i gleby rdzawe niecałkowite. W dolnych partiach stoków gleby te przechodzą w niewielkie areały gleb deluwialnych o nieznacznej miąższości. Gleby zerodowane-pelosole i arenosole-występują jedynie w części zlewni użytkowanej rolniczo. U podnóża odlesionych zboczy rozwinęły się gleby deluwialne o dużej miąższości i znacznych areałach. Gleby te poniżej linii dolnego załomu przykrywają gleby organiczne.
Soil Science Annual
Soil erosion, as a result of which physical, chemical and morphological features of the soil are ... more Soil erosion, as a result of which physical, chemical and morphological features of the soil are changing, is an increasingly common problem. The outcropping of deeper horizons of pedons also causes a change in the colour of their surface horizons, which is reflected in aerial photos. Strongly exposed to erosive transformations are agricultural areas. Intensive human activity leads to an increase in ratio of natural slope processes and the movement of soil material by agricultural machinery, which is called human-induced erosion or denudation. The largest transformations within study area-the Chełmża commune, can be observed at the tops of convex hills, where the plow horizons of the strongly truncated soils are mixed with the calcareous parent material (glacial tills). The aim of this study was to determine spatial extent of soils that contain calcium carbonate in plow horizons, based on available orthophotomaps and cartographic materials-topographic maps and a numerical terrain model. More than 700 contours (about 1% of investigated area) of eroded soils potentially rich in the calcium carbonate were delimited. The following criteria were taken into account: 1) very bright brown colour of surface horizons indicating the potential presence of calcium carbonate; 2) proximity of strongly eroded clay-illuvial soils characterized by a dark brown color of surface horizons indicating the exposure on surface of argik horizons; 3) occurrence in places exposed to erosion-on tops of hills and within convex slopes. Field works and laboratory analysis allowed to verification of the contours of potentially calcareous soils. These studies confirmed the high suitability of aerial photos in delimitation of mentioned pedons-96% of the analysed profiles represented strongly eroded calcareous soils. The average content of CaCO3 in plow horizons was 6.1%. The only genetic horizons of the studied soils are weakly developed A horizons lying directly on parent material. Plow horizons did not meet the criteria referring to colour and/or carbon content of mollik and parent material had too low a calcium carbonate content to designate kalcik horizons. According to the Polish Soils Classification (2019), most of the analysed soils can be classified as weakly developed soils-typical/humic regosols. In one case, due to the strong influence of ground water, the profile was classified as gleysol. The review of archival materials focused on eroded calcareous soils indicates the possibility of occurrence of mollik or/and kalcik horizons and what is connected with it-chernozems, black earths and stagnosols.
Bulletin of Geography. Physical Geography Series, Jun 1, 2018
The aim of this paper is to assess the quality and correctness of information on Polish soils ava... more The aim of this paper is to assess the quality and correctness of information on Polish soils available on selected websites. Particular attention was paid to educational portals, which became the subject of evaluation of the information its contains in terms of the correctness, up-to-dateness and reliability. Twenty-five websites representing educational portals and blogs were selected for analysis in terms of their contents (type of subject matter) correctness (substantial value), curentness (presence of up-to-date information) and completeness. Most of the information on the evaluated educational portals is targeted at high school students. These websites present only basic content. The most frequent issues on the analyzed portals were: soil types and soil systematics, distribution of soils in Poland, definition of soil and also soil valuation classes. Websites addressed to university students constitute a decided minority, could be said, that even an exception. One of those is article on Wikipedia, which has the highest educational value among all analysed websites.
As a form of environmental degradation, soil degradation directly or indirectly affects many live... more As a form of environmental degradation, soil degradation directly or indirectly affects many lives through decreased agricultural yields, increased flooding and habitat loss. Soil loss has been increasing in most parts of the world and is most pronounced in tropical developing countries where there is poor or zero soil and water conservation (SWC) planning and management activities. Identifying areas prone to soil erosion has also been inadequate, having not been informed by dedicated scientific studies. This is true of the poorly understood watershed of Welmel in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, where most livelihoods heavily rely upon agriculture. To plan effective SWC management techniques, a solid knowledge of spatial variations across different climate, land use and soil erosion is essential. This study has aimed at identifying potential areas needing SWC practices through conducting a spatial modeling of soil erosion within the Welmel watershed's Genale Dawa basin using a ge...
Catena, 2020
The public green space (PGS) in urban areas presents an image of nature and its animal and plant ... more The public green space (PGS) in urban areas presents an image of nature and its animal and plant biodiversity in the city. Due to intense urbanization in the world, pollutants such as trace elements (TE) or pathogenic microorganisms are continually emitted into the environment and pose a threat to ecosystems. The aim of this work was to assess the soil quality of PGS in the cities of Marrakech (Morocco) and Toruń (Poland) through physicochemical and microbiological approaches and to assess related health risks. Eighteen soils from the most visited historic parks in Marrakech and Toruń were sampled and analyzed. The results showed that content of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in Toruń urban soils is about three times higher than that measured in Marrakech urban park soils. These differences are related to the naturally higher content of organic matter in the soils of temperate climate regions than in Mediterranean soils. The concentrations of trace element (TE) showed a similar trend in...
Soil Science Annual
Chernozemic soils are distinguished based on the presence of thick, black or very dark, rich in h... more Chernozemic soils are distinguished based on the presence of thick, black or very dark, rich in humus, well-structural and base-saturated topsoil horizon, and the accumulation of secondary carbonates within soil profile. In Central Europe these soils occur in variable forms, respectively to climate gradients, position in the landscape, moisture regime, land use, and erosion/accumulation intensity. “Typical” chernozems, correlated with Calcic or Haplic Chernozems, are similarly positioned at basic classification level in the national soil classifications in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and in WRB. Chernozemic soils at various stages of their transformation are placed in Chernozems, Phaeozems or Kastanozems, supplied with respective qualifiers, e.g. Cambic, Luvic, Salic/Protosalic, Sodic/Protosodic etc. Some primeval Chernozems thinned by erosion may still fulfil criteria of Chernozems, but commonly are shifted to Calcisols. Soils upbuilt (aggraded) with colluvial additions may also ...
Soil Science Annual
Technogenic soils (Technosols) developed in an ash settling pond at the Bełchatów thermal power s... more Technogenic soils (Technosols) developed in an ash settling pond at the Bełchatów thermal power station, central Poland, were studied in order to identify soil property transformations over 30 years of pedogenesis. Standard pedological methods were applied in order to determine the properties of the studied samples. All investigated soils were classified according to WRB as Spolic Technosols with various supplementary qualifiers (Alcalic/Hypereutric, Arenic/Loamic, Protocalcic, Hyperartefactic, Immisic, Laxic, Ochric, and Protosalic). The studied materials can be arranged into a chronosequence starting from fresh (unweathered) ashes, by young Technosol BE1 (age: several months), up to older Technosols BE2 (about 20 years) and BE3 (about 30 years). The studies showed that weathering and soil-forming processes changed properties of ash in soil environment. Fresh ash was characterized by high pH (11.0 – fly ash, 8.7 – bottom ash), low content of carbonates (1.5% in both samples), varia...
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition
ABSTRACT Nowadays, the city area of Toruń is dominated by anthropogenic and technogenic soils – d... more ABSTRACT Nowadays, the city area of Toruń is dominated by anthropogenic and technogenic soils – developed by humans or significantly altered, mainly disturbed in terms of morphology and chemical and physical properties. This study is a continuation of research on the soil cover of the city. The aim of the presented study is to assess extent of garden soils in the city and characterize its properties on the base of five soil profiles in four exemplary gardens in Toruń and evaluate if they meet the classification criteria for Hortic Anthrosols according to World Reference Base (WRB) for Soil Resources. Within the administrative boundaries of the city, 66 allotment gardens are located which totally cover an area of more than 300 ha. They occupy 3% of the city area. None of the studied mineral surface horizons meets the criteria for hortic horizon according to WRB 2015, due to too low phosphorus content. Other hortic criteria were fulfilled. The research on classification issues of garden soils should be continued on larger scale to evaluate if WRB criteria are not too strict taking into account the features of most typical, few decade-old garden soils.
Bulletin of Geography. Physical Geography Series
The article characterises Late Glacial and Holocene deposits and provides a morphometric analysis... more The article characterises Late Glacial and Holocene deposits and provides a morphometric analysis of erosional and denudation valleys in the slope and terraces of the Drwęca Valley near Jajkowo village, a few kilometres east of Brodnica. A detailed field mapping was used to identify in detail two such forms within the western slope of the Drwęca Valley. Based on the results, it was found that the longitudinal profiles of these forms are not aligned (with an inclination of approximately 4˚). The slopes of valley I are asymmetrical, with the southern slope being milder than the northern exposure, which is not the case with form II. Form I is narrower and has a V-shaped cross profile, while II is wider and has a trough-shaped profile cross profile. The side valleys were initially cut by the flow of what were most probably meltwaters and precipitation water from the moraine plateau, then the erosion stopped and the valleys gradually filled and widened mainly as a result of rinsing and m...
Bulletin of Geography. Physical Geography Series
This paper aims to assess the usefulness of magnetic susceptibility measurements in pedological s... more This paper aims to assess the usefulness of magnetic susceptibility measurements in pedological studies of mill pond sediments. The study area includes the former Turznice mill pond basin located in the south-eastern part of the Grudziądz Basin. Four soil profiles were selected within the transect located along the longitudinal axis of the basin. The following soil properties were determined in the collected samples: bulk density, particle size distribution, pH, content of carbonates, approximate content of organic matter (LOI), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (Nt), and the pseudo-total contents of metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd). The obtained results were correlated with the specific (mass) magnetic susceptibility (χ). This study revealed that the variability of the soil cover in the basin was driven by different sedimentation conditions. The different composition of natural terrace deposits versus mill pond sediments has been well reflected in the magnetic propertie...
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Papers by Marcin Świtoniak