Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-715-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-715-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original research article
| 
30 Jun 2026
Original research article |
| 30 Jun 2026
| 30 Jun 2026
Plastic film residues on cropland: monitoring soil contamination through optical remote sensing
Alessandro Fabrizi
Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
Peter Fiener
Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
Kristof Van Oost
Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Florian Wilken
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
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Kay D. Seufferheld, Pedro V. G. Batista, Hadi Shokati, Thomas Scholten, and Peter Fiener
SOIL, 12, 301–319, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-301-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-301-2026, 2026
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Soil erosion threatens global food security, yet modeling soil conservation remains challenging. We evaluated WaTEM/SEDEM (Water and Tillage Erosion Model/Sediment Delivery Model) in six highly instrumented micro-scale watersheds optimised for soil conservation using a GLUE (Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation) framework. The model captured the magnitude of very low sediment yields but showed limited accuracy for annual steps. However, it performed well over eight-year timeframes and larger spatial scales, demonstrating its suitability for strategic, long-term soil conservation planning.
Hadi Shokati, Kay D. Seufferheld, Peter Fiener, and Thomas Scholten
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 743–756, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-743-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-743-2026, 2026
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Floods threaten lives and property and require rapid mapping. We compared two artificial intelligence approaches on aerial imagery: a fine‑tuned Segment Anything Model (SAM) guided by point or bounding box prompts, and a U‑Net network with ResNet‑50 and ResNet‑101 backbones. The point‑based SAM was the most accurate with precise boundaries. Faster and more reliable flood maps help rescue teams, insurers, and planners to act quickly.
Nathan Carlier, Matti Barthel, Antoine de Clippele, Lissie Willemijn de Groot, Travis William Drake, Jordon Dennis Hemingway, Yi Hou, José Nlandu Wabakanghanzi, Joseph Zambo Mandea, Pengzhi Zhao, Johan Six, and Kristof Van Oost
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-247, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-247, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Earth Surface Dynamics (ESurf).
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The Congo River Basin, a region of global significance, is undergoing a strong increase in population, which will in turn increase soil erosion, impacting soil fertility and the carbon cycle. We examined river sediment (eroded soil) transport, whereby we provided information on the main contributors of sediment to the Congo River. We also highlighted the role of a swampy region which removes large amounts of sediment from the water, acting as a regulator sediment transport to the Congo River.
Angus Moore, Maud Henrion, Yanfei Li, Eléonore du bois d'Aische, Philip Gautschi, Marcus Christl, François Jonard, Sébastien Lambot, Kristof Van Oost, Sophie Opfergelt, and Veerle Vanacker
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-36, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-36, 2026
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Studying peatlands dynamics over long timescales requires a proxy for past peat cover. In this paper, we explore the use of cosmogenic nuclides to infer peat thicknesses averaged over 100 kyr timescales. We find that long-term peat thicknesses inferred from cosmogenic nuclides at an upland peatland site in the Belgian Ardennes are consistent with independent constraints, but exceed modern peat thicknesses. We attribute this discrepancy to peat degradation associated with historical land use.
Yanfei Li, Maud Henrion, Angus Moore, Sébastien Lambot, Sophie Opfergelt, Veerle Vanacker, François Jonard, and Kristof Van Oost
Biogeosciences, 22, 6369–6392, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6369-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6369-2025, 2025
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Combining Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing with in-situ monitoring provides high spatial-temporal insights into CO2 fluxes from temperate peatlands. Dynamic factors (soil temperature and moisture) are the primary drivers contributing to 29 % of the spatial and 43 % of the seasonal variation. UAVs are effective tools for mapping daily soil respiration. CO2 fluxes from hot spots & moments contribute 20 % and 30 % of total CO2 fluxes, despite representing only 10 % of the area and time.
Maud Henrion, Sophie Opfergelt, Maëlle Villani, Philippe Roux, Djim Verleene, Eléonore du Bois d'Aische, Maxime Thomas, Gilles Denis, Edward A. G. Schuur, François Jonard, Veerle Vanacker, Kristof Van Oost, and Sébastien Lambot
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4667, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4667, 2025
Preprint archived
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Taliks play an important role in permafrost degradation. This study used Ground-penetrating radar to map taliks in Alaska, focusing on water tracks. The method successfully detected taliks and determined their upper depth. These were more frequent, shallower, and thicker under water tracks. This study showed that water tracks are hotspots for talik formation, with major implications for winter water flow in permafrost landscapes.
Maxime Thomas, Thomas Moenaert, Julien Radoux, Baptiste Delhez, Eléonore du Bois d'Aische, Maëlle Villani, Catherine Hirst, Erik Lundin, François Jonard, Sébastien Lambot, Kristof Van Oost, Veerle Vanacker, Matthias B. Siewert, Carl-Magnus Mörth, Michael W. Palace, Ruth K. Varner, Franklin B. Sullivan, Christina Herrick, and Sophie Opfergelt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3788, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3788, 2025
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This study examines the rate of permafrost degradation, in the form of the transition from intact well-drained palsa to fully thawed and inundated fen at the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden. Across the 14 hectares of the palsa mire, we demonstrate a 5-fold acceleration of the degradation in 2019–2021 compared to previous periods (1970–2014) which might lead to a pool of 12 metric tons of organic carbon exposed annually for the topsoil (23 cm depth), and an increase of ~1.3%/year of GHG emissions.
Antoine de Clippele, Astrid C. H. Jaeger, Simon Baumgartner, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Clement Botefa, Glenn Bush, Jessica Carilli, Travis W. Drake, Christian Ekamba, Gode Lompoko, Nivens Bey Mukwiele, Kristof Van Oost, Roland A. Werner, Joseph Zambo, Johan Six, and Matti Barthel
Biogeosciences, 22, 3011–3027, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3011-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3011-2025, 2025
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Tropical forest soils as a large terrestrial source of carbon dioxide (CO2) contribute to the global greenhouse gas budget. Despite this, carbon flux data from forested wetlands are scarce in tropical Africa. The study presents 3 years of semi-continuous measurements of surface CO2 fluxes within the Congo Basin. Although no seasonal patterns were evident, our results show a positive effect of soil temperature and moisture, while a quadratic relationship was observed with the water table.
Karl Auerswald, Juergen Geist, John N. Quinton, and Peter Fiener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2185–2200, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2185-2025, 2025
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Floods, droughts, and heatwaves are increasing globally. This is often attributed to CO2-driven climate change. However, at the global scale, CO2-driven climate change neither reduces precipitation nor adequately explains droughts. Land-use change, particularly soil sealing, compaction, and drainage, is likely to be more significant for water losses by runoff leading to flooding and water scarcity and is therefore an important part of the solution to mitigate floods, droughts, and heatwaves.
Lena Katharina Öttl, Florian Wilken, Anna Juřicová, Pedro V. G. Batista, and Peter Fiener
SOIL, 10, 281–305, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-281-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-281-2024, 2024
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Our long-term modelling study examines the effects of multiple soil redistribution processes on carbon dynamics in a 200 km² catchment converted from natural forest to agriculture about 1000 years ago. The modelling results stress the importance of including tillage erosion processes and long-term land use and land management changes to understand current soil-redistribution-induced carbon fluxes at the landscape scale.
Raphael Rehm and Peter Fiener
SOIL, 10, 211–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-211-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-211-2024, 2024
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A carbon transport model was adjusted to study the importance of water and tillage erosion processes for particular microplastic (MP) transport across a mesoscale landscape. The MP mass delivered into the stream network represented a serious amount of MP input in the same range as potential MP inputs from wastewater treatment plants. In addition, most of the MP applied to arable soils remains in the topsoil (0–20 cm) for decades. The MP sink function of soil results in a long-term MP source.
Thomas O. Hoffmann, Yannik Baulig, Stefan Vollmer, Jan H. Blöthe, Karl Auerswald, and Peter Fiener
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 287–303, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-287-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-287-2023, 2023
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We analyzed more than 440 000 measurements from suspended sediment monitoring to show that suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in large rivers in Germany strongly declined by 50 % between 1990 and 2010. We argue that SSC is approaching the natural base level that was reached during the mid-Holocene. There is no simple explanation for this decline, but increased sediment retention in upstream headwaters is presumably the major reason for declining SSC in the large river channels studied.
Kristof Van Oost and Johan Six
Biogeosciences, 20, 635–646, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-635-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-635-2023, 2023
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The direction and magnitude of the net erosion-induced land–atmosphere C exchange have been the topic of a big scientific debate for more than a decade now. Many have assumed that erosion leads to a loss of soil carbon to the atmosphere, whereas others have shown that erosion ultimately leads to a carbon sink. Here, we show that the soil carbon erosion source–sink paradox is reconciled when the broad range of temporal and spatial scales at which the underlying processes operate are considered.
Pedro V. G. Batista, Daniel L. Evans, Bernardo M. Cândido, and Peter Fiener
SOIL, 9, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-71-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-71-2023, 2023
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Most agricultural soils erode faster than new soil is formed, which leads to soil thinning. Here, we used a model simulation to investigate how soil erosion and soil thinning can alter topsoil properties and change its susceptibility to erosion. We found that soil profiles are sensitive to erosion-induced changes in the soil system, which mostly slow down soil thinning. These findings are likely to impact how we estimate soil lifespans and simulate long-term erosion dynamics.
Haicheng Zhang, Ronny Lauerwald, Pierre Regnier, Philippe Ciais, Kristof Van Oost, Victoria Naipal, Bertrand Guenet, and Wenping Yuan
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1119–1144, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1119-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1119-2022, 2022
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We present a land surface model which can simulate the complete lateral transfer of sediment and carbon from land to ocean through rivers. Our model captures the water, sediment, and organic carbon discharges in European rivers well. Application of our model in Europe indicates that lateral carbon transfer can strongly change regional land carbon budgets by affecting organic carbon distribution and soil moisture.
Pedro V. G. Batista, Peter Fiener, Simon Scheper, and Christine Alewell
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3753–3770, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3753-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3753-2022, 2022
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Patchy agricultural landscapes have a large number of small fields, which are separated by linear features such as roads and field borders. When eroded sediments are transported out of the agricultural fields by surface runoff, these features can influence sediment connectivity. By use of measured data and a simulation model, we demonstrate how a dense road network (and its drainage system) facilitates sediment transport from fields to water courses in a patchy Swiss agricultural catchment.
Pengzhi Zhao, Daniel Joseph Fallu, Sara Cucchiaro, Paolo Tarolli, Clive Waddington, David Cockcroft, Lisa Snape, Andreas Lang, Sebastian Doetterl, Antony G. Brown, and Kristof Van Oost
Biogeosciences, 18, 6301–6312, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6301-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6301-2021, 2021
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We investigate the factors controlling the soil organic carbon (SOC) stability and temperature sensitivity of abandoned prehistoric agricultural terrace soils. Results suggest that the burial of former topsoil due to terracing provided an SOC stabilization mechanism. Both the soil C : N ratio and SOC mineral protection regulate soil SOC temperature sensitivity. However, which mechanism predominantly controls SOC temperature sensitivity depends on the age of the buried terrace soils.
Laura Summerauer, Philipp Baumann, Leonardo Ramirez-Lopez, Matti Barthel, Marijn Bauters, Benjamin Bukombe, Mario Reichenbach, Pascal Boeckx, Elizabeth Kearsley, Kristof Van Oost, Bernard Vanlauwe, Dieudonné Chiragaga, Aimé Bisimwa Heri-Kazi, Pieter Moonen, Andrew Sila, Keith Shepherd, Basile Bazirake Mujinya, Eric Van Ranst, Geert Baert, Sebastian Doetterl, and Johan Six
SOIL, 7, 693–715, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-693-2021, 2021
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We present a soil mid-infrared library with over 1800 samples from central Africa in order to facilitate soil analyses of this highly understudied yet critical area. Together with an existing continental library, we demonstrate a regional analysis and geographical extrapolation to predict total carbon and nitrogen. Our results show accurate predictions and highlight the value that the data contribute to existing libraries. Our library is openly available for public use and for expansion.
Benjamin Bukombe, Peter Fiener, Alison M. Hoyt, Laurent K. Kidinda, and Sebastian Doetterl
SOIL, 7, 639–659, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-639-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-639-2021, 2021
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Through a laboratory incubation experiment, we investigated the spatial patterns of specific maximum heterotrophic respiration in tropical African mountain forest soils developed from contrasting parent material along slope gradients. We found distinct differences in soil respiration between soil depths and geochemical regions related to soil fertility and the chemistry of the soil solution. The topographic origin of our samples was not a major determinant of the observed rates of respiration.
Lander Van Tricht, Philippe Huybrechts, Jonas Van Breedam, Alexander Vanhulle, Kristof Van Oost, and Harry Zekollari
The Cryosphere, 15, 4445–4464, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021, 2021
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We conducted innovative research on the use of drones to determine the surface mass balance (SMB) of two glaciers. Considering appropriate spatial scales, we succeeded in determining the SMB in the ablation area with large accuracy. Consequently, we are convinced that our method and the use of drones to monitor the mass balance of a glacier’s ablation area can be an add-on to stake measurements in order to obtain a broader picture of the heterogeneity of the SMB of glaciers.
Sebastian Doetterl, Rodrigue K. Asifiwe, Geert Baert, Fernando Bamba, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Benjamin Bukombe, Georg Cadisch, Matthew Cooper, Landry N. Cizungu, Alison Hoyt, Clovis Kabaseke, Karsten Kalbitz, Laurent Kidinda, Annina Maier, Moritz Mainka, Julia Mayrock, Daniel Muhindo, Basile B. Mujinya, Serge M. Mukotanyi, Leon Nabahungu, Mario Reichenbach, Boris Rewald, Johan Six, Anna Stegmann, Laura Summerauer, Robin Unseld, Bernard Vanlauwe, Kristof Van Oost, Kris Verheyen, Cordula Vogel, Florian Wilken, and Peter Fiener
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4133–4153, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4133-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4133-2021, 2021
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The African Tropics are hotspots of modern-day land use change and are of great relevance for the global carbon cycle. Here, we present data collected as part of the DFG-funded project TropSOC along topographic, land use, and geochemical gradients in the eastern Congo Basin and the Albertine Rift. Our database contains spatial and temporal data on soil, vegetation, environmental properties, and land management collected from 136 pristine tropical forest and cropland plots between 2017 and 2020.
Mario Reichenbach, Peter Fiener, Gina Garland, Marco Griepentrog, Johan Six, and Sebastian Doetterl
SOIL, 7, 453–475, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-453-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-453-2021, 2021
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In deeply weathered tropical rainforest soils of Africa, we found that patterns of soil organic carbon stocks differ between soils developed from geochemically contrasting parent material due to differences in the abundance of organo-mineral complexes, the presence/absence of chemical stabilization mechanisms of carbon with minerals and the presence of fossil organic carbon from sedimentary rocks. Physical stabilization mechanisms by aggregation provide additional protection of soil carbon.
Joseph Tamale, Roman Hüppi, Marco Griepentrog, Laban Frank Turyagyenda, Matti Barthel, Sebastian Doetterl, Peter Fiener, and Oliver van Straaten
SOIL, 7, 433–451, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-433-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-433-2021, 2021
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Soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes were measured monthly from nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), N and P, and control plots of the first nutrient manipulation experiment located in an African pristine tropical forest using static chambers. The results suggest (1) contrasting soil GHG responses to nutrient addition, hence highlighting the complexity of the tropical forests, and (2) that the feedback of tropical forests to the global soil GHG budget could be altered by changes in N and P availability.
Florian Wilken, Peter Fiener, Michael Ketterer, Katrin Meusburger, Daniel Iragi Muhindo, Kristof van Oost, and Sebastian Doetterl
SOIL, 7, 399–414, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-399-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-399-2021, 2021
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This study demonstrates the usability of fallout radionuclides 239Pu and 240Pu as a tool to assess soil degradation processes in tropical Africa, which is particularly valuable in regions with limited infrastructure and challenging monitoring conditions for landscape-scale soil degradation monitoring. The study shows no indication of soil redistribution in forest sites but substantial soil redistribution in cropland (sedimentation >40 cm in 55 years) with high variability.
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Short summary
Drones can be used to identify the presence of macroplastic residues after plastic film use, allowing sustainable management practices and assessing the risk of soil plastic contamination. We highlight the potential and the limitations of current technologies, providing practical strategies to overcome them. We demonstrate the possibility of building cameras tailored to plastic detection and point the way towards necessary technological development.
Drones can be used to identify the presence of macroplastic residues after plastic film use,...
