THE NATURAL EVOLUTION OF A BURNED SOIL

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Abstract
Some years age we performed an experimental burning on a Sardinian soil, characterized by surficial layers of soil that repel water slightly, to clarify the effect of fire on some factors associated with soil erodibility. The experimental plot, after the fire, remained protected by anthropic interference and was subject only to natural factors. For this reason we prolonged the investigations into the following years to evaluate if and how time could overcome the modifications induced by the shocking passage of the fire in the physicochemical parameters previously investigated. Our attention was focused on the organic matter content, aggregate stability, hydrophobic and cementing substances, and organometallic cements. Three years after the passage of the fire, the surficial layers had restored the original conditions regarding organic matter content, aggregate stability, and the slight water repellence. The subsurficial layers, in which the fire had accumulated translocated hydrophobic matter, kept thee hydrophobic substances quantitatively unaltered, but they appeared more strongly cemented, because the translocated organic matter, far from remaining inactive, could react, complexing polyvalent metals and expanding the organometallic cements.

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