[Stoves] Biochar Projects for Science Students
Andrew C. Parker
acparker at xmission.com
Fri Nov 26 12:05:47 CST 2010
Crispin and All,
In regards to "accidental" terra preta, I am including a post I made to
wattsupwithat.com last January:
"Many years ago, I read a book on swithen agriculture in the upper amazon
basin and the eastern woodlands of the US. The main point of the book was
that these ecosystems supported many more times the current populations
before european agricultural and land tenure patterns were established.
The vast majority of land cleared in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s in
the eastern woodlands has now reverted back to forest. The thin forest
soils were quickly depleted after clearing and burning, forcing families
to move West for better opportunities.
Swithen agriculture used a strictly managed rotation system that maximized
the resources of the forest ecosystem, giving the native populations a
sustained abundance of agricultural goods, forest products and wild game.
(It is theorised that the devastating epidemics that followed the first
european explorers left remaining populations unable to maintain forest
management, which may explain why Hernando De Soto’s descriptions of the
american south differed substantially from what later explorers and
settlers found.)
I have not read much of the terra preta literature but the description of
the charcoal being found in thin layers would seem to support the idea
that the native inhabitants used a rotating swithen agriculture that could
still be found in some areas of the amazon basin thirty years ago. Nothing
magic or mysterious.
Now, I wonder if terra preta soils can be found in the eastern US?"
I still wonder about terra preta in the US. Any soil scientists out there
that can answer the question?
Andrew Parker
On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:54:16 -0700, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
<crispinpigott at gmail.com> wrote:
> It would be interesting to know if the terra preta soils were
> artificially
> created or were the consequence of cyclical burning in a rotation (slash
> and
> burn).
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