DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7509-831-3-0316

Soil Chemistry Underpins the Legacy of Charcoal Hearths: Exploring Potential Basis for Educational Materials

Aleš Kučera, Jiří Volánek

Charcoal production hearths are significant cultural landscape features and convey profound anthropogenic effects on soil properties. Whereas pyrolysis causes irreversible changes in the wood chemical structure, charcoal production residues alter underlying soil environment (stratigraphy and chemical composition). The most substantial changes consist in increased stable forms of organic carbon concentrations, which gain unique nutrient properties (nitrogen content augmentation to the detriment of metals bound in ashes and mineral soil) over centuries.
This contribution compares the elemental composition (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and Fe) of relict hearth layers and their total stocks to neighbouring forest soil. The hearth soil layers were predominately C and N enriched while depleted of Ca, Mg, P and Fe. Total hearth carbon stock exceeded that of forest soil more than twice. Total sulphur content, however lower in upper soil layers, was also higher in the hearths. Hearths can be perceived as meaningful hotspots of long-term carbon storage. The heritage of charcoal production in forestry should be well communicated to public because of (1) high number and density of hearths in Central European landscape, as well as (2) their ecosystem stability protection and stable carbon sequestration potentials.

Klíčová slova: carbon sink, environmental education, soil, nutrient stock, elemental analysis

stránky: 316-321, Publikováno: 2022, online: 2022