Quantitative assessments of the effects of global change on soil development are mostly focused on soil carbon, some nutrients, pollutants and soil water. Soil however is a complex entity with interacting biological, physical and chemical processes that are rarely modelled in its entirety. Additionally, for the sake of simplicity various soil properties are considered constants whereas in reality they are not. Soil as we observe it is the resultant of many processes driven by varying boundary conditions such as climate and organisms including men. This is not different when we study global change, thus modelling soil development under global change overlaps with modelling soil formation. This book gives an overview of what such model should entail, with ample descriptions to use SoilGen, a simulattion model to study pedogenesis.

Combines quantitative descriptions of soil processes with user-relevant case studies Describes numerous methods step-by-step to allow user implementation Presents model code as well as executable that are freely available for perusal and usage

Inhalt

Part I. Modelling Soil Development.- 1. Why model soil development.- 2. A brief history of modelling soil development.- 3. Required process coverage in a soil development model.- Part II. The Soilgen Model.- 4. Philosophy behind SoilGen Processes in SoilGen.- 5. Addressing constraints, variability and uncertainty.- Part III. User Interface.- 6. User interface of SoilGen.