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SSS11.8

Measuring and modelling spatial and temporal variability of soil properties and processes related to human activities
Convener: Giovanna Vessia  | Co-Conveners: Joanna M. Pieczynska-Kozlowska , Ruth E Falconer , Ana Maria Tarquis , Klaudia Oleshko 
Orals
 / Fri, 02 May, 15:30–17:15
Posters
 / Attendance Fri, 02 May, 17:30–19:00

Human activities are one of the main drivers of many processes related to environmental changes, as they influence basic resources of the landscape including the soil (both natural or man-made). In agricultural and forestry activities, which are the more extensive human interventions in the territory, forest conversion to cropland, the introduction of irrigation practices, or the modification of tillage intensity can be the main source of soil changes in some regions, whereas abandonment of agricultural fields can be a major concern in other regions. In a non-agricultural context, human activities that result in changes in the territory mainly involve the creation of infrastructures including roads, harbor and tunnels, dams, dikes, embankments, and buildings and their foundations, where spatial variability of the underlying materials is recognized to be the main cause of lack of reliability at the designing and construction stage. In all these cases, an accurate management of human impacts requires an effective estimate of soil chemical, physical, hydraulic, mechanical and thermal behavior, their variations both in space and time, and the uncertainties associated with these estimates. This session addresses contributions dealing with human impacts on soil properties, their space-time variability, and the uncertainty of both their measurement and modeling.