Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors

A thorough understanding of the variation in total soil element concentrations is important especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) soil contexts for agricultural and environmental management at large scale. Fingerprinting of soil elemental composition may form a useful basis for evaluating soils...

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Main Authors: Towett, Erick K., Shepherd, Keith D., Tondoh, Jérôme E., Winowiecki, Leigh Ann, Tamene, Lulseged D., Nyambura, Mercy, Sila, Andrew M., Vågen, Tor-Gunnar, Cadisch, Georg
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68109
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author Towett, Erick K.
Shepherd, Keith D.
Tondoh, Jérôme E.
Winowiecki, Leigh Ann
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Nyambura, Mercy
Sila, Andrew M.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Cadisch, Georg
author_browse Cadisch, Georg
Nyambura, Mercy
Shepherd, Keith D.
Sila, Andrew M.
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Tondoh, Jérôme E.
Towett, Erick K.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Winowiecki, Leigh Ann
author_facet Towett, Erick K.
Shepherd, Keith D.
Tondoh, Jérôme E.
Winowiecki, Leigh Ann
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Nyambura, Mercy
Sila, Andrew M.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Cadisch, Georg
author_sort Towett, Erick K.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description A thorough understanding of the variation in total soil element concentrations is important especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) soil contexts for agricultural and environmental management at large scale. Fingerprinting of soil elemental composition may form a useful basis for evaluating soils in a way that relates to soil-forming factors and inherent soil functional properties. The objectives of this paper are to quantify the proportion of variability in total elemental composition by total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) method of 1074 soil samples from the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) Project baseline and to determine the relationships with soil forming factors. The samples were from 34 sentinel sites measuring 10 × 10 km, randomized within major climate zones in SSA. Within each sentinel site there were sixteen spatially stratified 1 km2 clusters, within which there were ten 100 m2 plots. The within and between site patterns of variation in total element composition of 17 elements; Al, P, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Y, Ta, and Pb, were explored. Total element concentration values were within the range reported globally for soil Cr, Mn, Zn, Ni, V, Sr, and Y and higher than reported range for Al, Cu, Ta, Pb, and Ga. There were significant variations (P < 0.05) in total element composition within and between the sites for all the elements analyzed with the greatest proportion of total variance and number of significant variance components occurring at the site (55–88%) followed by the cluster nested within site (10–40%) levels. The explorations of the relationships between element composition data and site factors using Random Forest regression demonstrated that soil-forming factors have important influence on total elemental composition in the soil. The fact that the soil-forming factors are related to the concentration of naturally occurring elements in the soil gives rise to the notion that they might be predicted from the soils' element composition. Results implied that > 70% of variation in soil element composition patterns can be predicted using information in existing databases or readily observable features. Successful use of TXRF technique would open up possibilities for using total soil elemental composition fingerprints as a useful basis for characterizing soils in a way that relates to soil-forming factors and inherent soil functional properties.
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spelling CGSpace681092025-09-25T13:01:45Z Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors Towett, Erick K. Shepherd, Keith D. Tondoh, Jérôme E. Winowiecki, Leigh Ann Tamene, Lulseged D. Nyambura, Mercy Sila, Andrew M. Vågen, Tor-Gunnar Cadisch, Georg soil fertility acrisols arenosols nitisols ferralsols fluvisols cambisols luvisols gleysols soil soil chemicophysical properties fertilidad del suelo acrisoles arenosoles nitosoles ferralsoles fluvisoles cambisoles luvisoles gleysoles suelo propiedades fisico-químicas suelo áfrica al sur del sahara A thorough understanding of the variation in total soil element concentrations is important especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) soil contexts for agricultural and environmental management at large scale. Fingerprinting of soil elemental composition may form a useful basis for evaluating soils in a way that relates to soil-forming factors and inherent soil functional properties. The objectives of this paper are to quantify the proportion of variability in total elemental composition by total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) method of 1074 soil samples from the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) Project baseline and to determine the relationships with soil forming factors. The samples were from 34 sentinel sites measuring 10 × 10 km, randomized within major climate zones in SSA. Within each sentinel site there were sixteen spatially stratified 1 km2 clusters, within which there were ten 100 m2 plots. The within and between site patterns of variation in total element composition of 17 elements; Al, P, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Y, Ta, and Pb, were explored. Total element concentration values were within the range reported globally for soil Cr, Mn, Zn, Ni, V, Sr, and Y and higher than reported range for Al, Cu, Ta, Pb, and Ga. There were significant variations (P < 0.05) in total element composition within and between the sites for all the elements analyzed with the greatest proportion of total variance and number of significant variance components occurring at the site (55–88%) followed by the cluster nested within site (10–40%) levels. The explorations of the relationships between element composition data and site factors using Random Forest regression demonstrated that soil-forming factors have important influence on total elemental composition in the soil. The fact that the soil-forming factors are related to the concentration of naturally occurring elements in the soil gives rise to the notion that they might be predicted from the soils' element composition. Results implied that > 70% of variation in soil element composition patterns can be predicted using information in existing databases or readily observable features. Successful use of TXRF technique would open up possibilities for using total soil elemental composition fingerprints as a useful basis for characterizing soils in a way that relates to soil-forming factors and inherent soil functional properties. 2015-08 2015-09-10T16:35:04Z 2015-09-10T16:35:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68109 en Open Access Elsevier Towett, Erick K.; Shepherd, Keith D.; Tondoh, Jerome E.; Winowiecki, Leigh A.; Lulseged, Tamene; Nyambura, Mercy; Sila, Andrew; Vågenb, Tor-G.; Cadisch, Georg. 2015. Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors. Geoderma Regional 5: 157-168.
spellingShingle soil fertility
acrisols
arenosols
nitisols
ferralsols
fluvisols
cambisols
luvisols
gleysols
soil
soil chemicophysical properties
fertilidad del suelo
acrisoles
arenosoles
nitosoles
ferralsoles
fluvisoles
cambisoles
luvisoles
gleysoles
suelo
propiedades fisico-químicas suelo
áfrica al sur del sahara
Towett, Erick K.
Shepherd, Keith D.
Tondoh, Jérôme E.
Winowiecki, Leigh Ann
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Nyambura, Mercy
Sila, Andrew M.
Vågen, Tor-Gunnar
Cadisch, Georg
Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title_full Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title_fullStr Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title_full_unstemmed Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title_short Total elemental composition of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa and relationship with soil forming factors
title_sort total elemental composition of soils in sub saharan africa and relationship with soil forming factors
topic soil fertility
acrisols
arenosols
nitisols
ferralsols
fluvisols
cambisols
luvisols
gleysols
soil
soil chemicophysical properties
fertilidad del suelo
acrisoles
arenosoles
nitosoles
ferralsoles
fluvisoles
cambisoles
luvisoles
gleysoles
suelo
propiedades fisico-químicas suelo
áfrica al sur del sahara
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68109
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