The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments

Bibliography: pages 171-181. === Studies of forest ecosystems have indicated that internal sources constitute a significant component of the acid load to forest soils and can result in significant decreases in soil pH, acid neutralising capacity and base status. Despite this, the possibility that th...

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Main Author: Nowicki, Thomas Edward
Other Authors: Fey, Martin V
Format: Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Cape Town 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17332
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spelling ndltd-netd.ac.za-oai-union.ndltd.org-uct-oai-localhost-11427-173322020-07-22T05:07:30Z The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments Nowicki, Thomas Edward Fey, Martin V Afforestation - South Africa Soil acidity Acid soils Bibliography: pages 171-181. Studies of forest ecosystems have indicated that internal sources constitute a significant component of the acid load to forest soils and can result in significant decreases in soil pH, acid neutralising capacity and base status. Despite this, the possibility that these processes can result in a significant transfer of acidity to drainage solutions and consequently to associated surface waters has, to a large extent, been discounted due to the self-limiting nature of " natural" acidification processes which purportedly do not involve significant concentrations of the strong acid anions NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻ and Cl⁻. In South Africa, extensive plantations of Pinus spp. (pine) are developed in mountainous regions that were previously covered by grassland or fynbos (macchia) vegetation and are mostly not believed to be influenced by significant atmospheric pollution. Thus, a good opportunity exists to study the effects of afforestation without the superimposed influence of acid deposition. This thesis documents the results of a regional investigation of the geochemical impact of pine afforestation in South Africa. The study focuses specifically on factors relating to the transfer of soil acidity to drainage waters. The key questions that are addressed are : 1) to what extent is soil acidification, as previously documented for plantations in the eastern seaboard region of southern Africa, prevalent in other forestry areas within South Africa?; 2) in the absence of acid deposition, can afforestation cause enhanced concentrations of strong acid anions in soil solutions and drainage waters, and can this lead to the transfer of large quantities of acidity from forest soils to surface waters ?; 3) does afforestation-induced acidification lead to increased concentrations of environmentally important metals such as Al and Mn in soil solutions and surface waters ?; and 4) how does afforestation affect the quantity of dissolved organic matter in soils and streams? 2016-02-29T12:00:28Z 2016-02-29T12:00:28Z 1998 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17332 eng application/pdf University of Cape Town Faculty of Science Department of Geological Sciences
collection NDLTD
language English
format Doctoral Thesis
sources NDLTD
topic Afforestation - South Africa
Soil acidity
Acid soils
spellingShingle Afforestation - South Africa
Soil acidity
Acid soils
Nowicki, Thomas Edward
The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
description Bibliography: pages 171-181. === Studies of forest ecosystems have indicated that internal sources constitute a significant component of the acid load to forest soils and can result in significant decreases in soil pH, acid neutralising capacity and base status. Despite this, the possibility that these processes can result in a significant transfer of acidity to drainage solutions and consequently to associated surface waters has, to a large extent, been discounted due to the self-limiting nature of " natural" acidification processes which purportedly do not involve significant concentrations of the strong acid anions NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻ and Cl⁻. In South Africa, extensive plantations of Pinus spp. (pine) are developed in mountainous regions that were previously covered by grassland or fynbos (macchia) vegetation and are mostly not believed to be influenced by significant atmospheric pollution. Thus, a good opportunity exists to study the effects of afforestation without the superimposed influence of acid deposition. This thesis documents the results of a regional investigation of the geochemical impact of pine afforestation in South Africa. The study focuses specifically on factors relating to the transfer of soil acidity to drainage waters. The key questions that are addressed are : 1) to what extent is soil acidification, as previously documented for plantations in the eastern seaboard region of southern Africa, prevalent in other forestry areas within South Africa?; 2) in the absence of acid deposition, can afforestation cause enhanced concentrations of strong acid anions in soil solutions and drainage waters, and can this lead to the transfer of large quantities of acidity from forest soils to surface waters ?; 3) does afforestation-induced acidification lead to increased concentrations of environmentally important metals such as Al and Mn in soil solutions and surface waters ?; and 4) how does afforestation affect the quantity of dissolved organic matter in soils and streams?
author2 Fey, Martin V
author_facet Fey, Martin V
Nowicki, Thomas Edward
author Nowicki, Thomas Edward
author_sort Nowicki, Thomas Edward
title The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
title_short The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
title_full The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
title_fullStr The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
title_full_unstemmed The impact of plantations of Pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in South African upland catchments
title_sort impact of plantations of pinus spp. on the chemical properties of soils and stream waters in south african upland catchments
publisher University of Cape Town
publishDate 2016
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17332
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