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{"title":"Shifts in hillslope-channel connectivity after land reclamation in a Mediterranean semi-humid badland landscape","authors":"F. Vergari ,&nbsp;F. Troiani ,&nbsp;M. Cavalli ,&nbsp;H. Faulkner ,&nbsp;M. Del Monte","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108921","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108921","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Badlands morphodynamics largely depends on shifts in hillslope-channel coupling and decoupling through time and space. In sub-humid badlands, the already complex pattern of connectivity change is further complicated by extrinsic variables, such as human induced land use changes, resulting in alteration of sediment source areas and cascades, but the impact that such interventions have had on the sediment dynamics at the catchment scale has had little attention.</div><div>This paper investigates the impact of human intervention on the hillslope-channel system morphodynamics of a badland landscape of the Upper Orcia Valley (southern Tuscany, Italy). Utilizing a multi-temporal approach, we analyzed the historical archive of the Land Reclamation Authority, aerial photographs, and LiDAR data to reconstruct land use changes and geomorphological evolution over the past century. Our analysis focused on identifying shifts in hillslope-channel coupling by mapping changes in sediment sources on the hillslopes as well as the main channel adjustments along the main river channels. The application of an index-based connectivity approach allowed to assess changes in structural connectivity under different land use scenarios.</div><div>Results demonstrate a significant decrease in sediment supply and hillslope-channel connectivity due to land reclamation works implemented in the 20th century. These interventions, aimed at stabilizing badlands and increasing land profitability, have led to substantial changes in river morphology.</div><div>This study highlights the importance of considering human interventions and their long-term impacts on sediment dynamics when developing catchment-based management plans for extremely dynamic environments like badlands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108921"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drought reconstruction and related dendrogeomorphic time-series analysis from Kinnaur region of western Himalayas","authors":"Bency David Chinthala ,&nbsp;Jussi Grießinger ,&nbsp;Parminder S. Ranhotra ,&nbsp;Stuti Jain ,&nbsp;Chandra Prakash Singh ,&nbsp;Achim Bräuning","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108950","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108950","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Moisture variability driven by climate change impacts soil moisture, affecting vegetation growth and cover, and enhances the morphodynamics, potentially increasing geohazard risks. Dendroclimatology and dendrogeomorphology techniques effectively quantifying the past moisture variability and geohazard episodes can be used to understand the climate-induced geohazard mechanisms in long-term. We reconstructed moisture variability and geohazard (rockfall) activity from the Kinnaur region in the Indian western Himalayas. The Western Disturbances (WDs) driven winter precipitation provides moisture crucial for tree growth during the spring and summer months. We developed a 463 year-long (1558–2021 CE) tree-ring width chronology (TRWC) of <em>Cedrus deodara</em> and performed correlation analysis with various climate variables. The significant positive correlation between TRWC and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI04) for the February-March-April months revealed the combined effect of winter and spring month’s water balance on tree growth. The SPEI04 reconstruction for the past 356 years showed that the study region experienced moderate to severe wet spring years between 1725 and 1757 CE, teleconnected to westerly circulation patterns, falling in the Little Ice Age (LIA) time frame. The dry spring phase after 1757 CE significantly teleconnects with a tropical ocean warming during late 19^th and 20^th centuries. We assessed the impact of moisture changes on the geohazard frequency and found good correspondence between years with dry spring months and rockfall activity. We observed an increase in geohazard activity since the mid-20^th century, indicating an increasing vulnerability of slopes to ground failure. The spring and summer months are becoming more critical for tree growth and ground stability due to unprecedented temperature rise during the last century. Our findings provide a suitable baseline for adapted forest management, sustainability and ground stability measures under ongoing climate warming.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108950"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and driving factors of water erosion under microtopography","authors":"Wenli Rao,&nbsp;Qingfeng Zhang,&nbsp;Chutian Zhang,&nbsp;Jiaqi Qu,&nbsp;Fanfei Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108964","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108964","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>ΔDEM (Digital Elevation Model) accurately quantifies topographic changes, such as erosion and sedimentation. Previous research on micro-topographic water erosion largely relies on DEMs, which lack a temporal dimension and do not effectively capture erosion dynamics. This study aims to analyse the spatial patterns and evolutionary processes of micro-topographic water erosion. Specifically, artificial rainfall experiments were designed and conducted on a 15° Artificial Digging (AD) slope, employing M-ΔDEM to quantify erosion pattern indicators and further investigate the key influencing factors. Results indicate distinct erosion morphology and spatial patterns on tilled slopes. Erosion evolves into a tree-like structure, with detachment and transportation primarily in the upper slope and lateral deposition in the lower slope. Increased rainfall intensity reduces erosion fragmentation, enhances patch connectivity, and broadens the impact area. Topographic factors have a more significant influence on soil erosion than rainfall factors, with their importance (in descending order) and primary value ranges as follows: surface roughness (1.0 to 1.25), topographic index (0.3 to 1.3 mm), surface relief (0 to 10 mm), Micro-slope gradient (0 to 40°), surface incision depth (0 to 5 mm), slope ratio (0.20 to 0.75), and surface depression volume (−20 to 20 mm³). M−slope gradient and surface depression volume show a linear relationship with sediment yield, while other factors exhibit less clear relationships. Sensitivity to topographic factors shifts from the slope edge to the centre. This study recommends that adjustments to surface roughness and M−slope gradient at the left and right edges of loess slopes can effectively mitigate soil erosion when implementing agricultural measures. Additionally, it reveals the spatial patterns of erosion evolution and the key influencing factors, contributing to the management and conservation of agricultural practices on loess slope.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108964"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Edaphic legacy of phosphorus fertiliser in the restoration of the biodiverse Kwongan ecosystem in ultra-low P soils","authors":"Vinicius H. De Oliveira ,&nbsp;Mark P. Dobrowolski ,&nbsp;Sarah Duddigan ,&nbsp;Mark Tibbett","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108961","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108961","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The kwongan ecosystem is a biodiversity hotspot on the coastal sandplain of southwest Western Australia. It harbours many rare and endemic plant species adapted to nutrient impoverished soils, particularly to low phosphorus (P). In some kwongan regions surface strip-mining has drastically disturbed these ecosystems, requiring restoration by soil profile reconstruction and re-establishment of the native vegetation, often assisted by mineral fertiliser applications. We examined soil monitoring data from several post-mining sites of restored kwongan vegetation (n = 127), categorised by age groups (10, 20, 30 and 40-year-old sites) and fertilisation history (type of fertiliser applied). Thirty two soil variables were compared to the surrounding native soils (n = 135) by multivariate and univariate statistical approaches to determine whether different restoration ages and fertilisers had long-term impacts on soil physicochemical characteristics. Our analyses showed that restored soils differed from native, with substantially lower carbon (−41 %) and nitrogen (−15 %). Sites restored within the last 10 years had higher sodicity and much lower porosity, while 40-year-old sites presented nearly ten times more Total P. Recent non-fertilised soils showed similar P concentrations to the reference sites, however, older restored soils had a high legacy P, which is a clear consequence of past superphosphate applications, and greatly decreased their N:P stoichiometric ratios compared to native soils. We show that, after decades, restored soils are still impacted by the past mining activities and fertiliser application. These changes will likely alter microbial and plant communities, impairing restoration trajectories towards the native kwongan vegetation, particularly for P-sensitive species. Despite benefits of P-fertilisation (e.g. improved plant cover), the low carbon stocks and N:P ratios indicate a divergent ecosystem from the native state. Such changes in ecosystem stoichiometry may affect plant species competitiveness, and alter the composition of other trophic levels. Adjusting future restoration practices to reduce P fertilisation is promising, but addressing long-term stoichiometric shifts and soil compaction remains crucial.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108961"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Erosion-SAM: Semantic segmentation of soil erosion by water","authors":"Hadi Shokati ,&nbsp;Andreas Engelhardt ,&nbsp;Kay Seufferheld ,&nbsp;Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi ,&nbsp;Peter Fiener ,&nbsp;Hendrik P.A. Lensch ,&nbsp;Thomas Scholten","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108954","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108954","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil erosion (SE) by water threatens global agriculture by depleting fertile topsoil and causing economic costs. Conventional SE models struggle to capture the complex, non-linear interactions between SE drivers. Recently, machine learning has gained attention for SE modeling. However, machine learning requires large data sets for effective training and validation. In this study, we present Erosion-SAM, which fine-tunes the Segment Anything Model (SAM) for automatic segmentation of water erosion features in high-resolution remote sensing imagery. The data set comprised 405 manually segmented agricultural fields from erosion-prone areas obtained from the rain gauge-adjusted radar rainfall data (RADOLAN) for bare cropland, vegetated cropland, and grassland. Three approaches were evaluated: two pre-processing techniques— resizing and cropping — and an improved version of the resizing approach with user-defined prompts during the testing phase. All fine-tuned models outperformed the original SAM, with the prompt-based resizing method showing the highest accuracy, especially for grassland (recall: 0.90, precision: 0.82, dice coefficient: 0.86, IoU: 0.75). SAM performed better than the cropping approach only on bare cropland. This discrepancy is attributed to the tendency of SAM to overestimate SE by classifying a large proportion of fields as eroded, which increases recall by covering most of the eroded pixels. All three fine-tuned approaches showed strong correlations with the actual SE severity ratios, with the prompt-enhanced resizing approach achieving the highest R² of 0.93. In summary, Erosion-SAM shows promising potential for automatically detecting SE features from remote sensing images. The generated data sets can be applied to machine learning-based SE modeling, providing accurate and consistent training data across different land cover types, and offering a reliable alternative to traditional SE models. In addition, erosion-SAM can make a valuable contribution to the precise monitoring of SE with high temporal resolution over large areas, and its results could benefit reinsurance and insurance-related risk solutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108954"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil memory of bioclimatic changes in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA","authors":"Curtis Monger ,&nbsp;Maria Bronnikova","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108944","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108944","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The soil memory concept of palimpsest-wise memory, supplemented with an analysis of punctuated sedimentation (book-wise memory), provides a systematic method for thinking about soil-geomorphic evolution in the context of bioclimatic change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the soil memory concept at three landforms (piedmont slope, Rio Grande valley border, and basin floor) in a region in the northern Chihuahuan Desert that has been studied for six decades as part of a USDA Desert Soil Geomorphology Project and Jornada Experimental Range.</div><div>On each of the three landforms, the soil memory concept supports previous chronosequence and progressive-regressive pedogenic models that describe the transformation of a lithomatrix into a pedomatrix. Palimpsest-wise and book-wise memory, combined with landform memory (stepped fan-terraces), provide evidence of alternating landscape stability (soil formation) and instability (erosion) ranging in magnitude from overgrazing within the last 180 years to the major glacial/interglacial cycles within the last 800,000 years. Carbon isotopic analysis in combination with the soil memory model indicates an increase in C3 desert shrubs during the recent overgrazing high-erosion period and during the mid-Holocene aridity period, but otherwise indicates a system dominated by C4 grasses. That the isotopes did not detect an increase in C3 shrubs during the earlier interglacial periods might be the result of overprinting by a C4 signature during the longer and more stable glacial periods.</div><div>In addition to memory acquisition, memory loss is an important concept. In the Chihuahuan Desert study area, memory loss occurs mainly by the microbial oxidation of organic matter during increased aridity, by erosion that truncates soil horizons during dry periods, and by the dissolution of carbonate during wetter periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108944"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geogenic and anthropogenic sources of heavy metals in soil: An ecological and health risk assessment in the granitic terrain of South India","authors":"Shekhar More ,&nbsp;Ratnakar Dhakate","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108960","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108960","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Heavy metals (HMs) contamination in soils poses significant ecological and human health risks, particularly in regions with complex geogenic and anthropogenic influences. This study investigates the levels, distribution, and sources of heavy metals in Chromic Luvisols (Toxic) of a granitic terrain in South India. Total of 44 soil samples were collected and analyzed for various heavy metal content using the XRF technique. The concentrations of the elements ranged between 3.4–19.6 mg/kg for As, 370.2–1710.6 mg/kg for Ba, 0.3–89.6 mg/kg for Co, 8.7–543.4 mg/kg for Cr, 7.7–96.6 mg/kg for Cu, 0.2–12.4 mg/kg for Mo, 5.4–168 mg/kg for Ni, 4–66 mg/kg for Pb, 29.6–223 mg/kg for Rb, 134.6–437.9 mg/kg for Sr, 39.8–162.8 mg/kg for V, 10.9–268.3 mg/kg for Y, 1–478.3 mg/kg for Zn and 141.2–8232.3 mg/kg for Zr with higher concentrations observed in the northwestern region. The Geo-accumulation index (I_geo) indicates the soil is moderately contaminated. Enrichment Factor (EF) mean values for As in most samples is &gt; 2 indicating minimal enrichment or involvement of anthropogenetic activities in the area. Principal component analysis suggested anthropogenic activities, such as pesticide and fertilizer use, as key contributors to soil contamination. The non-carcinogenic risk for children and adults via ingestion, dermal, and inhalation pathways in almost all the samples is found to be HI &lt; 1 indicating no noteworthy chronic risk of metals in the study area. Total Carcinogenic Risk (TCR) showed 90.91 % and 4.45 % of samples exceeding the limit for children and adults, respectively. Children face particularly high carcinogenic risks from Cr and As through ingestion, which could lead to cancer with prolonged exposure. Heavy metals like Cr and As showed very high values via ingestion pathway that may cause carcinogenic risk to the people of the study area. The Ni and Cr via dermal pathway also showed some carcinogenic risk which should also be taken seriously.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108960"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deciphering Sudetic landscape history by using alluvial geoarchives: Holocene environmental changes at Hala Izerska, SW Poland","authors":"Knut Kaiser ,&nbsp;Marek Kasprzak ,&nbsp;Katarína Adameková ,&nbsp;Marek Błaś ,&nbsp;Anna-Maartje de Boer ,&nbsp;Kryštof Derner ,&nbsp;Paweł Duma ,&nbsp;Petr Kočár ,&nbsp;Agnieszka Latocha-Wites ,&nbsp;Magdalena Opała-Owczarek ,&nbsp;Piotr Owczarek ,&nbsp;Libor Petr ,&nbsp;Jan Petřík ,&nbsp;Petr Tábořík ,&nbsp;Ernst van der Maaten ,&nbsp;Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108943","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108943","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The potential of alluvial geoarchives for revealing the Holocene landscape history of a Central European low mountain range was systematically evaluated. Sedimentary stream sections and their surroundings in the headwaters of the Izera river at an altitude of approx. 830 m a.s.l. were analysed. An interdisciplinary approach was applied, using data from sedimentology, geochemistry, applied geophysics, palaeobotany, dendrochronology, and historical sciences. Two 250 cm-thick profiles show a variety of alluvial sediment types, including fluvial gravel, sand and silt, lacustrine silt, and peat. Subfossil wood, i.e. coarse woody debris consisting of spruce, was found in certain layers in the profiles as well as in the surrounding stream sections. It dates from the mid- to the late Holocene. Palynological and radiometric data show that the alluvial fillings were formed since the turn of the early to the mid-Holocene. Forest phases were synthesised from the locally available pollen data, which prove a local dominance of spruce forests since the Atlantic biozone. First anthropogenic impulses became evident in the Subboreal in the form of grazing indicators. Human-induced changes in the tree species composition did not take place before the late Subatlantic, i.e. in the 13th century. Historical documents point to the very late clearing of the local mountain forest in the 17th century and the establishment of a scattered settlement. The obtained chronologically long alluvial record since the mid-Holocene represents a new feature compared to the stream fillings previously investigated in the adjacent low mountain ranges. The studied alluvial geoarchive complements well the long-term environmental record derived from peat-bogs in the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108943"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nitrogen-cycling microbial diversity and function in tiankengs at different evolutionary stages","authors":"Xiaohui Wang,&nbsp;Keyi Wang,&nbsp;Junbo Yang,&nbsp;Danjuan Zeng,&nbsp;Ling Mo,&nbsp;Gaozhong Pu","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108969","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108969","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tiankengs in karst regions, characterized by distinct geomorphology and diverse microbial communities, serve as critical nitrogen (N) cycling zones. While microbial roles in karst ecosystems are recognized, the dynamics of N-cycling microorganisms across tiankengs at different evolutionary stages remain understudied. This study examined the composition, diversity, and function of N-cycling microorganisms inside and outside tiankengs at immature (Baidong), mature (Shenmu), and degraded (Dacao) stages. Significant environmental differences were observed, with mature tiankengs exhibiting the highest soil organic carbon, N, and available phosphorus levels, shaping microbial communities. Notably, denitrifying bacteria (DNB) (2.16) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) (0.97) had the lowest Shannon diversity indices in mature tiankengs. <em>Ralstonia pickettii</em> and unclassified c_Betaproteobacteria emerged as potential indicators of tiankeng maturity and degradation, respectively. Microbial networks were relatively fragile, yet microbial activity, assessed via fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and peroxidase (POD) activity, was highest in mature tiankengs. AOA played a more significant role than bacteria in N cycling. As tiankengs degraded, increased connectivity with the external environment shifted N-cycling dominance from ammonia oxidation and nitrification to denitrification. This study identifies karst tiankengs as nitrogen sequestration hotspots, highlighting their importance for ecological restoration and sustainable management of vulnerable karst ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108969"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organic grave good-related soil microorganisms: Read-out of soil biological memory for archaeological research","authors":"Elena Chernysheva ,&nbsp;Nataly Kashirskaya ,&nbsp;Elena Demkina ,&nbsp;Tatiana Khomutova ,&nbsp;Ludmila Plekhanova ,&nbsp;Alexander Borisov","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108955","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.108955","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil biological memory is information about soil forming conditions in the past, “recorded” in the form of living, dead and mineralized organisms, traces of their functioning in the soil, and products of their postmortem transformations. The most sensory part of soil biological memory is the microbial memory of soils. Under this term, we propose to understand the ability of various groups soil microbiota to change their structure, functional diversity and activity as a result of impact of natural or anthropogenic factors, and to preserve these changes indefinitely long time. The time frame for the functioning of the soil biological memory is several thousand years. This feature of the microbial memory of soils can be used for archaeological reconstructions. The aim of the study is to reveal specific groups of microorganisms and particularities of soil enzyme activity to reconstruct funeral rite of ancient populations (food in ceramic vessels, clothing of the deceased and decorations of the funeral bed). Soils of archaeological sites of different ages (3200 BCE – 600 CE), located in the Dry steppe zone of the East European Plain (Russia) and in Ararat Plain (Armenia) were investigated.</div><div>It has been shown that the high number of lipolytic microorganisms and high level of lipase activity are in soil inside the funeral pots are reliable indicators of the presence of fat food. In the burials of the Bronze Age and the Early Medieval time fatty foods were found in 10% of pots. The high number of keratinophilic fungi is an indicator of the entry of large volumes of keratin-containing substrates (wool, feathers) into the soil and allowed us to reconstruct the clothing of the deceased and decorations of the funeral bed. The abundance of keratinophilic fungi in soil under the feet of the skeleton in Bronze Age burials may indicate the use of wool felted shoes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"254 ","pages":"Article 108955"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}