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Estruturas pedogenéticas em solos construídos e seus reflexos sobre a condutividade hidráulica
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This Brazilian study of urban soils in a city park found microplastics present alongside other anthropogenic materials, with their presence assessed using infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Despite contamination with human-made materials, soil aggregation and natural pedogenic processes were still occurring, and the soils retained meaningful capacity for water infiltration. The findings suggest that even degraded urban soils can maintain important hydrological functions, though plastic contamination is an added stressor to monitor.
As ações humanas interferem nos processos de formação de solos no ambiente urbano. As estruturas dos solos são uma das propriedades morfológicas mais afetadas pela atividade antrópica, e sua degradação ou destruição pode afetar o ciclo hidrológico. O objetivo da pesquisa foi demonstrar o desenvolvimento de processos pedogenéticos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de agregados e estruturas e a influência dessas propriedades na condutividade hidráulica em solos modificados em ambiente urbano. Em um parque urbano, três perfis de solos foram descritos, a infiltração nos solos foi determinada e amostras foram coletadas para as seguintes análises: dimensionamento e caracterização morfológica de estruturas e poros com Multi-stripe Laser Triangulation (MLT); micromorfologia por lâmina delgada; condutividade hidráulica não saturada; diâmetro médio ponderado (via seca e úmida), índice de estabilidade de agregados; densidade aparente; densidade de partícula; porosidade total; granulometria; argila dispersa em água e grau de floculação; pHH2O, pHKCl e delta pH; cátions trocáveis (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+); acidez potencial; metais potencialmente tóxicos; carbono orgânico total; estoque de carbono orgânico; identificação de microplásticos por lupa binocular, espectroscopia no infravermelho por transformada de Fourier (μ-FTIR) e espectroscopia de μ-Raman; composição dos argilominerais por Difração de raio-X (DRX) da fração argila e do solo total; determinação de elementos maiores (Al2O3, CaO, Fe2O3, K2O, MgO, MnO, Na2O, P2O5, SiO2, TiO2, SO3) por Fluorescência de raio-X (FRX) da fração argila e do solo total; teor de caulinita e gibbsita por Calorimetria diferencial por varredura e Termogravimétria (DSC/TG) da fração argila; Microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) integrado a espectroscopia de energia dispersiva de raios-X (EDS). Os perfis de solo foram classificados de acordo com a World Reference Base. Os dados obtidos pelo Mult-Lazer Triangulation (MLT), micromorfologia e DRX foram interpretados após o processamento de imagens. Os dados químicos e físicos foram tratados por análise descritiva. Os resultados demonstram a existência de processos pedogenéticos que resultam na agregação do solo, mesmo diante da presença de materiais antrópicos. Esses materiais antrópicos são capazes de afetar os aspectos físicos, químicos e mineralógicos dos solos. Conclui-se que o solo, mesmo que previamente degradado, contribui com a infiltração e a condutividade hidráulica em ambiente urbano.
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