Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman)
In the Sultanate of Oman remnants of deteriorating terrace agricultural systems offer important insights into long-term human adaptation in the arid tropics. Irrigation and terrace agriculture in the mountainous Jabal Akhdar region reveal historic agricultural practices in a rugged, high elevation c...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Published: |
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12458/378 https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85077451606 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1857415064815927297 |
|---|---|
| author | Pavlopoulos, Kosmas |
| author2 | Moraetis, Daniel Al Kindi, Sumaya Salim Al Saadi, Sara Kalifah Al Shaibani, Ahmed Abdul Raoof Ali Scharf, Andreas Mattern, Frank Harrower, Michael J. |
| author2_role | author author author author author author author |
| author_facet | Pavlopoulos, Kosmas Moraetis, Daniel Al Kindi, Sumaya Salim Al Saadi, Sara Kalifah Al Shaibani, Ahmed Abdul Raoof Ali Scharf, Andreas Mattern, Frank Harrower, Michael J. |
| author_role | author |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Pavlopoulos, Kosmas Moraetis, Daniel Al Kindi, Sumaya Salim Al Saadi, Sara Kalifah Al Shaibani, Ahmed Abdul Raoof Ali Scharf, Andreas Mattern, Frank Harrower, Michael J. |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv | 2020-01-07T08:08:14Z 2020-01-07T08:08:14Z 2020 |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv | application/pdf |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12458/378 10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114152 https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85077451606 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv | en |
| dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv | Geoderma 2020 363 |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | Terrace agriculture Arid environments Calcrete Soil provenance |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | Controlled Vocabulary for Resource Type Genres::text::periodical::journal::contribution to journal::journal article |
| description | In the Sultanate of Oman remnants of deteriorating terrace agricultural systems offer important insights into long-term human adaptation in the arid tropics. Irrigation and terrace agriculture in the mountainous Jabal Akhdar region reveal historic agricultural practices in a rugged, high elevation context. The present study examines soil quality and regolith provenance in abandoned agricultural soil terraces. Three soil profiles in each of the Villages of Hadash and Wijma were excavated and analyzed. Physical, chemical and mineralogical analyses were conducted for all soil horizons. In addition, six other soils, 3 possible soil parent rocks (regolith) and soil’s bedrock were collected. Soil ages were constrained by 14C assays and stable isotope, (13C and 18O) on the bulk carbonates in the calcrete (caliche). The results demonstrate that both sites display poor soil quality with very low average total organic carbon (TOC) (6.2–5.0 g kg−1) and mean weight diameter (MWD; 0.27–0.48 mm), with low water stable aggregate content (< 42%). All the geochemical, mineralogical and the thin section analyses show that the soils exhibit unique characteristics that differ from those of other sediments (possible parent regolith) and soils in the vicinity. The finding of ostracod shells in the soil terraces in both areas and 14C dating of calcrete (10.193 ± 30–13.887 ± 40 a BP) indicate that regolith was human-transported to terraces to create soil. The 14C ages of the bulk carbonates match well with a dry period of high calcite precipitation contemporaneous to the Younger Dryas. The Hadash and Wijma soil terraces are located ~45 km away from each other, but still display significant similarities in terms of regolith provenance and soil development and were likely filled with regolith from the same source. These results offer new perspective on agricultural terrace development and oasis agriculture in a rugged, high-elevation, arid environment. |
| id | sorbonner_540a83feef46d72cf69a06a2c1103229 |
| identifier_str_mv | 10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114152 |
| language_invalid_str_mv | en |
| network_acronym_str | sorbonner |
| network_name_str | Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi repository |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:depot.sorbonne.ae:20.500.12458/378 |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| repository.mail.fl_str_mv | |
| repository.name.fl_str_mv | |
| repository_id_str | |
| spelling | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman)Pavlopoulos, KosmasMoraetis, DanielAl Kindi, Sumaya SalimAl Saadi, Sara KalifahAl Shaibani, Ahmed Abdul Raoof AliScharf, AndreasMattern, FrankHarrower, Michael J.Terrace agricultureArid environmentsCalcreteSoil provenanceIn the Sultanate of Oman remnants of deteriorating terrace agricultural systems offer important insights into long-term human adaptation in the arid tropics. Irrigation and terrace agriculture in the mountainous Jabal Akhdar region reveal historic agricultural practices in a rugged, high elevation context. The present study examines soil quality and regolith provenance in abandoned agricultural soil terraces. Three soil profiles in each of the Villages of Hadash and Wijma were excavated and analyzed. Physical, chemical and mineralogical analyses were conducted for all soil horizons. In addition, six other soils, 3 possible soil parent rocks (regolith) and soil’s bedrock were collected. Soil ages were constrained by 14C assays and stable isotope, (13C and 18O) on the bulk carbonates in the calcrete (caliche). The results demonstrate that both sites display poor soil quality with very low average total organic carbon (TOC) (6.2–5.0 g kg−1) and mean weight diameter (MWD; 0.27–0.48 mm), with low water stable aggregate content (< 42%). All the geochemical, mineralogical and the thin section analyses show that the soils exhibit unique characteristics that differ from those of other sediments (possible parent regolith) and soils in the vicinity. The finding of ostracod shells in the soil terraces in both areas and 14C dating of calcrete (10.193 ± 30–13.887 ± 40 a BP) indicate that regolith was human-transported to terraces to create soil. The 14C ages of the bulk carbonates match well with a dry period of high calcite precipitation contemporaneous to the Younger Dryas. The Hadash and Wijma soil terraces are located ~45 km away from each other, but still display significant similarities in terms of regolith provenance and soil development and were likely filled with regolith from the same source. These results offer new perspective on agricultural terrace development and oasis agriculture in a rugged, high-elevation, arid environment.2020-01-07T08:08:14Z2020-01-07T08:08:14Z2020Controlled Vocabulary for Resource Type Genres::text::periodical::journal::contribution to journal::journal articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12458/37810.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114152https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85077451606enGeoderma2020363oai:depot.sorbonne.ae:20.500.12458/3782023-12-05T09:47:48Z |
| spellingShingle | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) Pavlopoulos, Kosmas Terrace agriculture Arid environments Calcrete Soil provenance |
| title | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| title_full | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| title_fullStr | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| title_short | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| title_sort | Terrace agriculture in a mountainous arid environment – A study of soil quality and regolith provenance: Jabal Akhdar (Oman) |
| topic | Terrace agriculture Arid environments Calcrete Soil provenance |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12458/378 https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85077451606 |