Pedogenesis and geochemistry of iron in technosols built with limestone waste-rock

• Grant number: 18/12108-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Osório Ferreira
• Grantee: Douglas Mardegan Colodete
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Technosols are soils with complex constitution and structure because their pedogenesis is originated from technogenic materials called artifacts (materials strongly altered by anthropic action). This class of soil includes those formed mainly by industrial, urban, and mining waste materials. Mining wastes are common artifacts that constitute the Technosols studied in Europe, which are used for recovering of diggings by filling them and later vegetate them. Iron, a constituent of several parent materials, has its dynamics conditioned by physical, chemical and biological factors in soils, being considered a remarkable pedoenvironmental indicator by researchers and classic pedologists. However, the studies concerning iron geochemistry and its contribution to evolution of anthropogenic soils is very scarse, especially under tropical climate conditions. This project aims to understand the dynamics of iron in the incipient pedogenesis of Technosols based on morphological descriptions, soil classification (WRB), and iron geochemical studies. Soil samples will be taken by horizon and from bulk and plant rhizospheric soil of different crops. Mineralogical analyzes of iron oxides by XRD and iron sequential extractions will be performed in the laboratory. The results to be achieved in this study will contribute to a better understanding of iron geochemistry and pedogenesis of Technosols.