Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic
The impact of ancient fertilization practices on the biogeochemistry of arable soils on the remote Scottish island of Hirta, St Kilda was investigated. The island was relatively unusual in that the inhabitants exploited seabird colonies for food, enabling high population densities to be sustained on...
Published in: | Chemosphere |
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2006
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Online Access: | https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/ancient-manuring-practices-pollute-arable-soils-at-the-st-kilda-world-heritage-site-scottish-north-atlantic(18a7f0e8-9964-4f21-a390-7bf36d1bd72e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 |
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ftqueensubelpubl:oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:publications/18a7f0e8-9964-4f21-a390-7bf36d1bd72e 2023-05-15T17:35:12+02:00 Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic Meharg, Andrew A Deacon, Clare Edwards, Kevin J Donaldson, Margaret Davidson, Donald A Spring, Christian Scrimgeour, Charles M Feldmann, Jörg Rabb, A 2006-09 https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/ancient-manuring-practices-pollute-arable-soils-at-the-st-kilda-world-heritage-site-scottish-north-atlantic(18a7f0e8-9964-4f21-a390-7bf36d1bd72e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Meharg , A A , Deacon , C , Edwards , K J , Donaldson , M , Davidson , D A , Spring , C , Scrimgeour , C M , Feldmann , J & Rabb , A 2006 , ' Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic ' , Chemosphere , vol. 64 , no. 11 , pp. 1818-28 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304 Environmental Chemistry /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300 Environmental Science(all) /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water SDG 14 - Life Below Water article 2006 ftqueensubelpubl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 2022-02-09T22:07:53Z The impact of ancient fertilization practices on the biogeochemistry of arable soils on the remote Scottish island of Hirta, St Kilda was investigated. The island was relatively unusual in that the inhabitants exploited seabird colonies for food, enabling high population densities to be sustained on a limited, and naturally poor, soil resource. A few other Scottish islands, the Faeroes and some Icelandic Islands, had similar cultural dependence on seabirds. Fertilization with human and animal waste streams (mainly peat ash and bird carcases) on Hirta over millennia has led to over-deepened, nutrient-rich soils (plaggen). This project set out to examine if this high rate of fertilization had adversely impacted the soil, and if so, to determine which waste streams were responsible. Arable soils were considerably elevated in Pb and Zn compared to non-arable soils. Using Pb isotope signatures and analysis of the waste streams, it was determined that this pollution came from peat and turf ash (Pb and Zn) and from bird carcases (Zn). This was also confirmed by (13)C and (15)N analysis of the profiles which showed that soil organic matter was highly enriched in marine-derived C and N compared to non-arable soils. The pollution of such a remote island may be typical of other 'bird culture' islands, and peat ash contamination of marginal arable soils at high latitudes may be widespread in terms of geographical area, but less intense at specific locations due to lower population densities than on Hirta. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Chemosphere 64 11 1818 1828 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Queen's University Belfast Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftqueensubelpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304 Environmental Chemistry /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300 Environmental Science(all) /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water SDG 14 - Life Below Water |
spellingShingle |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304 Environmental Chemistry /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300 Environmental Science(all) /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water SDG 14 - Life Below Water Meharg, Andrew A Deacon, Clare Edwards, Kevin J Donaldson, Margaret Davidson, Donald A Spring, Christian Scrimgeour, Charles M Feldmann, Jörg Rabb, A Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304 Environmental Chemistry /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300 Environmental Science(all) /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water SDG 14 - Life Below Water |
description |
The impact of ancient fertilization practices on the biogeochemistry of arable soils on the remote Scottish island of Hirta, St Kilda was investigated. The island was relatively unusual in that the inhabitants exploited seabird colonies for food, enabling high population densities to be sustained on a limited, and naturally poor, soil resource. A few other Scottish islands, the Faeroes and some Icelandic Islands, had similar cultural dependence on seabirds. Fertilization with human and animal waste streams (mainly peat ash and bird carcases) on Hirta over millennia has led to over-deepened, nutrient-rich soils (plaggen). This project set out to examine if this high rate of fertilization had adversely impacted the soil, and if so, to determine which waste streams were responsible. Arable soils were considerably elevated in Pb and Zn compared to non-arable soils. Using Pb isotope signatures and analysis of the waste streams, it was determined that this pollution came from peat and turf ash (Pb and Zn) and from bird carcases (Zn). This was also confirmed by (13)C and (15)N analysis of the profiles which showed that soil organic matter was highly enriched in marine-derived C and N compared to non-arable soils. The pollution of such a remote island may be typical of other 'bird culture' islands, and peat ash contamination of marginal arable soils at high latitudes may be widespread in terms of geographical area, but less intense at specific locations due to lower population densities than on Hirta. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Meharg, Andrew A Deacon, Clare Edwards, Kevin J Donaldson, Margaret Davidson, Donald A Spring, Christian Scrimgeour, Charles M Feldmann, Jörg Rabb, A |
author_facet |
Meharg, Andrew A Deacon, Clare Edwards, Kevin J Donaldson, Margaret Davidson, Donald A Spring, Christian Scrimgeour, Charles M Feldmann, Jörg Rabb, A |
author_sort |
Meharg, Andrew A |
title |
Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
title_short |
Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
title_full |
Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |
title_sort |
ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the st kilda world heritage site, scottish north atlantic |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/ancient-manuring-practices-pollute-arable-soils-at-the-st-kilda-world-heritage-site-scottish-north-atlantic(18a7f0e8-9964-4f21-a390-7bf36d1bd72e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Meharg , A A , Deacon , C , Edwards , K J , Donaldson , M , Davidson , D A , Spring , C , Scrimgeour , C M , Feldmann , J & Rabb , A 2006 , ' Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic ' , Chemosphere , vol. 64 , no. 11 , pp. 1818-28 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 |
container_title |
Chemosphere |
container_volume |
64 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
1818 |
op_container_end_page |
1828 |
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1766134284992643072 |