Human-altered soils – Signatures of Anthrosols and their potential for arable lands

Highlights

● Past human activities result in the formation of Anthrosols and the accumulation of nutrients.

● Enrichment in physicochemical properties relates to the intensity of settlement activities.

● The level of releasability contributes to the extended retention of nutrients in soils.

● Past settlement sites represent nutrient-rich Anthrosols suitable for arable fields.

Abstract

The fertility of human-altered soils, Anthrosols, developed from past settlement activities for crop production is scarcely studied. The study evaluated the fertility of Anthrosols developed from the 15th to mid-20th century AD settlement in Old Buipe, Savanna region, Ghana, to determine whether abandoned localities are suitable for arable fields. Human activities enhanced the physical attributes of the Anthrosols: brown to dark brown intergrain fine soil, 15%−35% organic matter, 15%−30% potsherd, and 5%−15% charred materials. The Anthrosols were slightly acidic to neutral reactions (\text{textcolor}[RGB]32,147,147{\mathrm{p}\mathrm{H}}_{[{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}]} 5.67−6.83, \text{textcolor}[RGB]32,147,147{\mathrm{p}\mathrm{H}}_{[\mathrm{C}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{l}}_2]} 5.83−6.95), high cation exchange capacity (CEC; 18.77−45.31me/100 g), electric conductivity (EC = 0.28−0.36 dS m⁻¹), accumulation, and distribution of organic C, total N, P, Mn, Cu, Zn, K, and Fe, and available P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn. Plant-available nutrients were comparatively higher than concentrations in non-anthropogenic soils. The level of releasability (bioavailable fractions of total concentrations) of P, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn partly compensates for low plant-available portions. Enrichment of chemical and physical properties of Anthrosols make them fertile for arable fields. The signatures of settlement activities are strong and can remain in soils for a long time, even under harsh environmental conditions.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

arable field / Anthrosols / organic matter / physical properties / releasability / settlement activities

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Acknowledgements

MOA and JS were financially supported by the Nutrisk project (European Regional Development Fund−Project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/ 16_019/0000845).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

The authors declare that they agreed to participate in the present study, and they read and agreed to the publication of the present paper. Data available on request from the authors.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Michael O. Asare; Methodology: Michael O. Asare, Wazi Apoh; Formal analysis and investigation: Michael O. Asare, Wazi Apoh, Dinkayehu Alamnie Asrade; Writing - original draft preparation: Michael O. Asare, Wazi Apoh, Jerry Owusu Afriyie; Writing–review and editing: Michael O. Asare, Wazi Apoh, Jerry Owusu Afriyie; Funding acquisition: Michael O. Asare, Jiřina Száková; Resources: Jiřina Száková; Supervision: Jiřina Száková.

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