Editorial .................................................. 1
Staff News ............................................... 2
Students, research fellows & trainees.................................................... 7
Publications ..........................................20
Project profiles......................................26
Communications received....................30
Meetings................................................33
Advanced Training and Research
Opportunities ........................................35
EDITORIAL
A turbulent year has gone by, turbulent health-wise that is ! One of our staff members had to put down all work for a couple of months because of illness, but thankfully, fully recovered. As for myself, I am happy to be able to write this editorial myself. A very severe pneumonia last year, kept me hospitalized also for several months. In the meantime, I am practically "as good as new", and again fully active in the programme.
Thanks to all the colleagues who helped to keep things going ! Thanks to everybody (staff, students, prospective students) for the patience that was sometimes required !
Last year I mentioned that adaptations of the actual M.Sc. Programme are warranted, both in the frame of the Bologna declaration on the organisation of higher education in Europe as with regard to the fact that a few colleagues will retire within the next few years. Discussions are fully ongoing now and progressing well. We expect to have a proposal ready by the end of this year.
The VLIR (Flemish Interuniversity Council) has been reviewing the activities in the frame of development cooperation and, based on the experience gained and the recommendations from evaluation commissions, plans for the next 5 years (2003-2007) were drain up. Some new proposals that are interesting in the frame of our ICP (International
Course Programme) are :
1.
A special fund will be put aside for "refresher" activities for all
ICP's. From this fund, activities like refresher courses can be organised. The funds provided however, will be very limited and additional sources will have to be found. A next refresher course is scheduled now in the course of 2005, and the location will be Belgium.
2.
The idea of offering research funds to (institutions of) former ICPscholarship holders has been proposed. Focus would be the strengthening of institutions in developing countries where a number of ICP-alumni are active.
3.
Travel budgets are proposed to allow exchange of staff from institutions in Flanders and from developing countries.
The proposal to increase the total number of scholarships for the ICP's has been adopted and realised since last year. At present, for our ICP
Physical Land Resources, yearly 16 scholarships are provided. This means a substantial increase (before there were 9 scholarships) to which the positive evaluation of our programme by the Commission greatly contributed. Also with regard to the yearly award of 10 scholarships for
Ph.D. studies for ICP-alumni a final decision was taken last year, and the first candidatures were received in September 2002. More information on these scholarships can be found elsewhere in this publication.
Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst
- 1 -

STAFF NEWS
Since 1968, he was attached to Ghent University, starting from assistant and, since 1987, as Full Professor. During that period he was teaching general geology
(undergraduate), petrography (graduate) and soil science
(archaeologists) and later mineralogy (undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate courses) and soil micromorphology (post-graduate courses). His research work focused on soil mineralogy, micromorphology, soil genesis and applied petrography.
Gent, 1990
Prof. Dr. G. Stoops was born in Antwerp on August 12,
1937. In 1962, he obtained the degree "Licentiate" in
Geology and Mineralogy from Ghent University. In 1967, he obtained his Ph.D. in Geology and Mineralogy from the same university.
He started his career as a research fellow from BIBWOO-
IBERSOM (later ABOS-BADC, now DGOS), charged with research on soil mineralogy in the frame of a geopedological mission to the Galapagos Islands. From 1962 till 1967, he was a teaching assistant and lecturer at the
Faculty of Agriculture, Lovanium University in Kinshasa
(Congo). Here, he was in charge of organising practical exercises on soil analysis, teaching soil mineralogy and research work on pedogenesis and rock weathering.
Moscow 1983 : Prof. Stoops receives the Dokuchaev Medal from the hands of Prof. Kovda
Wroclaw (Poland), 1969 : f.l.t.r. Dr. Jongerius, G. Stoops and H.
Eswaran
Townsville (Australia) 1992 : Prof. Dr. Larry Wilding hands over the
Kubiena Award to Prof. Stoops
Since 1993, he was Head of the Department of Geology and Soil Science. In 1990, he succeeded Prof. Sys as
Director of the International Training Centre for Post-
Graduate Soil Scientists (ITC) and in 1997, he was the first President of the Steering Committee for the
Interuniversity Course Programme in Physical Land
Resources. During several years, he was the representative of Ghent University in the VLIR Working Group on Cooperation in Development. He was appointed fellow of the
Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences in 1993, and was
- 2 -

its President in 1999. He was member of the editorial board of several international journals on earth sciences.
During his career, he has been a visiting professor for soil mineralogy, micropedology and/or weathering at several universities in Western and Eastern Europe (Greece,
Spain, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary) and overseas
(Tunis, Cameroon, Argentina). Noteworthy amongst his missions and duties abroad, was his responsibility for the organisation of laboratories for mineralogy and micromorphology at Lovanium, Kinshasa, Congo, the
University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka, Universiti
Pertanian, Malaysia, the "Institut National d'Agronomie
Tunis" (INAT), Tunis and the National Research Centre
(NRC) in Egypt.
Specifically with regard to this function as Director of the
ITC (in collaboration with ITC staff), his initiative to launch refresher courses for alumni has to be mentioned.
The first such course took place in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) in August 1993 for alumni from Asia. Sub-saharan African alumni could refresh knowledge (and memories) in Harare
(Zimbabwe) in September 1994. North-African students gathered in Tunis (Tunesia) in January 1997 and the circle was closed in Cuenca (Ecuador) in January 2001. These courses were put forward as exemplative feedback activities by the evaluation commission which scrutinized all ICP's in 2000.
Six alumni were given the opportunity to obtain a Ph.D.
degree in the frame of a Twin Programme ITC Ghent
University - University Putra Malaysia that was set up by
Prof. Stoops (in collaboration with Prof. Van Ranst, Prof.
Verplancke and Prof. Van Cleemput), with the cooperation of Prof. Shamshuddin (UPM, Malaysia). All alumni can enjoy the newsletter Pedon, distributed free of charge (to all alumni keeping the ITC informed about their correct address), and this since it was launched in 1990 under the initiative of Prof. Stoops.
A first International recognition of the scientific work of
Prof. Stoops was the award of the Dokuchaev Medal, which was handed over to him by Prof. Kovda from the
Academy of Science in Moscow in 1983. His work was crowned again with the receipt of the Kubiena Award from the International Soil Science Society at the closing ceremony of the 9 th International Working Meeting on Soil
Micromorphology in Townsville (Australia) in August
1992.
Apart from his scientific contributions in soil micromorphology through research, lecturing and publications, he also greatly contributed by his initiative and support for the organisation of international courses and meetings in this particular field of soil science.
He was the organiser of a yearly short intensive course on micropedology that usually took place in spring. The audience existed of post-graduate and doctoral students
STAFF NEWS from different countries. He took care of the organisation of the Third and Fourth European Intensive Courses in
Micromorphology, that took place in Gent from February
12 till March 8, 1996 and in Granada from January 27 till
February 21, 1997 respectively.
Together with Prof. Langohr and M.Sc. Jari Mikkelsen, he also put his shoulders under the organisation of the yearly symposium of the International Archaeological Soil
Mineralogy Working Group. In the spring of 1999 and in the summer of 2001, these workshops took place in Gent.
In 2001, as a joint effort of the staff of the Laboratory of
Mineralogy, Petrology and Micropedology and the
Laboratory of Soil Science, an International Working
Meeting on Micropedology was organised in Gent from
July 9 till 13. During that meeting, Prof. Stoops was elected as the Chairman of the Subcommission on
Micromorphology of IUSS.
His retirement surely is not a goodbye to science, nor a goodbye to the ITC. We are sure that he will continue to follow the weal and woe of the training centre and be available for advice or to listen in his gentle and modest way, be it from some distance now. We wish him good health and many pleasant years to come.
D. Langouche & E. Van Ranst
The next meeting will take place from 20 till 26 th of
September 2004 at the University of Cukurova, Adana,
Turkey, organised by Prof. Dr. Selim Kapur.
For more information and inscription forms please consult following website : http://ziraat.cu.edu.tr/imm
G. Stoops
There was an error in the title under the picture on page 5.
The photograph depicts the participants of the
International Working Meeting on Micropedology, which took place in Gent, from July 9 till 13, 2001.
- 3 -

On the 6 th of March 2002, the students of the first year of the PLR-programme attended a symposium entitled:
“Evolution of Tropical Soil Science, Past and Future”, organised by Prof. Dr. G. Stoops on behalf of the Royal
Academy of Overseas Sciences, in the University
Foundation in Brussels.
Following topics were discussed: Evolving Concepts in
Tropical Soil Science: the Humid Tropics (by R. Dudal),
The Contribution of Intertropical Pedology to the
Development of Soil Science. The Contribution of French
Soil Scientists (by A. Ruellan, ORTSOM, Paris), Tropical
Soils in the Classification Systems of USDA, FAO and
WRB (by J. Deckers, F. Nachtergaele and O. Spaargaren),
The Soil Map of Africa (1/5 000 000) (by J. D’Hoore),
Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects of Soil Databases in
Tropical Countries (by F. Nachtergaele and E. Van Ranst) and Influence of Climate and Soil on Traditional
Agriculture in Tropical Africa (by C. Sys). Two
Portuguese colleagues, R. Pinto Ricardo and A.G. Réffega had to cancel their trip to Belgium at the last moment, so that their paper Contribution portugaise pour le développement de la science du sol tropical was not presented. Their paper will be included however in the transactions of the symposium that will be published in
2003 by the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences. More information on the publication will be given in the next issue of Pedon.
It was an exciting opportunity to get first hand information on the history of soil science in the tropics from real pioneers, such as D’Hoore, Dudal, Sys and Ruellan.
G. Stoops
STAFF NEWS
May 17, 2002 : Prof. Dr. Maria Elena Ruiz (Universidad
Agraria de la Havana, Cuba) gave a lecture entitled
"Applications of Agrohydrological Models in Cuba.
September 17, 2002 : Mr. Zoltán Horván (Department of
Applied and Environmental Geology, Eötvös Loránd
University, Budapest, Hungary) gave a lecture entitled
"Environmental changes reflected by the Plio-Pleistocene soil-sedimentary complex at the northern margin of the
Pannonian Basin (N. Hungary, field survey, micromrophology, isotopic composition, secondary
CaCO
3
precipitates".
In our last Pedon issue (Pedon n° 13) Prof. Stoops commented on the refresher course in Ecuador that took place on January 2001. The pictures were missing then.
Here they are !
March 8, 2002 : Prof. Dr. L. Stroosnijder (University of
Wageningen, The Netherlands) gave a lecture entitled
"Models, measurements and man in soil and water conservation".
April 19, 2002 : Mr. Edward Skidmore (Wind Erosion
Research Unit, Kansas State University) gave a lecture entitled "Wind Erosion".
May 3, 2002 : Prof. Dr. Deyamira Lobo (Universidad
Central de Venezuela) gave a lecture entitled "Soil
Physical Properties and Water Erosion Susceptibility".
A natural profile gives many participants the occasion to discuss classification
- 4 -

Cold, wet, but beautiful. Participants on the
Paramo, the highest point of the second fieldtrip, more than 4000 m above sea level
STAFF NEWS
Discussion in and around a profile in the valley of Chaullabamba
- 5 -
Participants in the hotel Sta. Isabela

Listening to explanations on soil management in the banana plantation of Buena Vista
STAFF NEWS
Access to profiles in the shrimp farms of the coastal region requires a good equilibrium
- 6 -
A last picture, after the closing session in the Universidad Técnica de Machala

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Mr. Albhaisi Maher Gi
B.Sc. Geology
Al-Naser Street, 56-46, Gaza,
Gaza Strip, Palestine
E-mail :
MaherGi.Albhaisi@UGent.be
Mr. Bakundukize Charles
Lic. Earth Sciences
C/o Simuzeye Théodore,
Université du Burundi, 2700
Bujumbura, Burundi
E-mail :
Charles.Bakundukize@UGent.
be
Mr. Bosscher Nikolas
Industrieel Ingenieur
Landbouw en Biotechnologie
Firmin Deprezlaan 6, 2650
Edegem
E-mail :
Nikolas.Bosscher@UGent.be
Mr. Gang Emmanuel
B. Agric. Soil Science
International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture, P.O. Box
2008, Yaoundé, Messa,
Cameroon
E-mail :
Emmanuel.Gang@UGent.be
Mr. Hoang Hoai Anh
B.Sc. Agric. Chemistry
International Institute of Hang
Chuoi, 61, Hanoi, Vietnam
E-mail :
HoaiAnh.Hoang@UGent.be
Mr. Jimba Samuel
M.Sc. Agronomy
Department of Agronomy,
University of Ibadan, 200001
Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
E-mail :
Samuel.Jimba@UGent.be
Mr. Kalamatila Rasford
B.Sc. Agriculture
Ministry of Agriculture, Box
35301, Plot 5191, Luanshya
Rd., 10101 Lusaka, Zambia
E-mail :
Rasford.Kalamatila@UGent.
be
Mr. Lotfy Ihab
B.Sc. Geology
C/o Nafie Lotfy Mohamed,
National Authority for Remote
Sensing and Space Sciences,
Egypt
E-mail : Ihab.Lotfy@UGent.be
Mr. Mahsouli Hashem
B.Sc. Civil Engineering
Av. Marius Renard 27/40,
1070 Brussel, Belgium
E-mail :
Hashem.Mashouli@UGent.be
Mr. Maro Godsteven
B.Sc. Agriculture
TPC Limited, P.O. Box 40,
Langasani, Moshi, Tanzania
E-mail :
Godsteven.Maro@UGent.be
Mr. Mishra Umakant
B.Sc. Agriculture
P.O. Box 10522, Kathmandu,
Nepal
E-mail :
Umakant.Mishra@UGent.be
Mr. Mtemi Wambura
Sospeter
B.Sc. Agriculture
P.O. Box 75877, Dar-Es-
Salaam, Tanzania
E-mail :
Sospeter.MtemiWambura@
UGent.be
Mr. Mukalay Muamba
B.Sc. Agronomy
Faculty of Agronomy/UNILU,
P.O. Box 1825, Lubumbashi,
Katanga Province, D.R. Congo
E-mail :
Muamba.Mukalay@UGent.be
Mr. Nguyen Tam
Eng. Geology
Mineralogy Section, Research
Institute of Geology and
Mineral Resources (RIGMR),
Than Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
E-mail :
Tam.Nguyen@UGent.be
Mr. Opoku Andrews
B.Sc. Agriculture
Crop Science Department,
Faculty of Agriculture,
KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
E-mail :
Andrews.Opoku@UGent.be
Mr. Ray Ram Lakhan
B.E. Civil
Department of Local
Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Road, P.O.
Box 13138, Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail :
RamLakhan.Ray@UGent.be
Mr. Somarakis Georgios
B.Sc. Forestry
Poligirou 1, 546 36,
Thessaloniki, Greece
E-mail :
Georgios.Somarakis@UGent.
be
Ms. Tariku Chernet Meklit
B.Sc. Plant Science
P.O. Box 156, Alemaya
University, Dire Dawa,
Ethiopia
E-mail :
Meklit.TarikuChernet@UGent.
be
Mr. Thai Lam Phuong
Chemical Eng.
58B Ngo, 174 (Pho Vong Thi)
- Duong. Lac Long Quan, Tay
Ho., Hanoi, Vietnam
E-mail :
LamPhuong.Thai@UGent.be
Mr. Tran Ba Linh
B.Sc. Agronomy
218/46 Tran Hung Dao Street,
Cantho City, Vietnam
E-mail :
Linh.TranBa@UGent.be
- 7 -

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Ms. Tran Thi Minh Thien
Engineering Geology
C3-Lang Ha Street - Room
107, Dong Da District, Hanoi
City, Vietnam
E-mail :
Thien.TranThiMinh@UGent.
be
Mr. Fockedey Ludo
Licentiaat in de Geschiedenis
August Sniederstraat 13, 9040
Sint-Amandsberg
E-mail : lfockedey@belgacom.net
Option : Management of
Physical Land Resources
Mr. Uddin Md. Romij
M.Sc. Agronomy
Dept. of Agronomy,
Bangladesh Agricultural
University, Mymensingh, 2202
Mymensingh, Bangladesh
E-mail :
Md.Romij.Uddin@UGent.be
Option : Use of Physical
Land Resources
Mr. Bidogeza Jean-Claude
Ingénieur Agronome
P.O. Box 3971, Kigali,
Rwanda
E-mail :
JeanClaude.Bidogeza@UGent.
be
Mr. Vitharana Wellewatte
Arachchige Udayakantha
B.Sc. Agriculture
28, Andangama, Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka
E-mail :
Udayakantha.Wellewatte
Arachchige@UGent.be
Mr. Acharya Govind
Bachelor of Civil Engineering
P.O. Box 13138, Kathmandu,
Nepal
E-mail : acharyagovind@hotmail.com
Mr. Gebrehawariat Girma
B.Sc. Arid Zone Agriculture
P.O. Box 751, Mekelle,
Ethiopia
E-mail :
Girma.Gebrehawariat@UGent.
be
Mr. Nguyen Duy Binh
Engineer
Research Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Thanh
Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
E-mail : binhdv1@yahoo.com
Mr. Githinji Leonard
B.Sc. Agriculture
P.O. Box 552, Uthiru, Kenya
E-mail :
Leonard.Githinji@UGent.be
Option : Analysis of
Physical Land Resources
Ms. Nguyen My Linh
Eng. Geotechnical Engineering
Hoang Ngoc Pkach Street,
Room 101, quarter C3, Hanoi,
Dong Ba, Vietnam
E-mail : nmlinh2K@yahoo.com
Mr. Kasanda Wa Kasanda
Ingénieur Agronome
P.O. Box 866, Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of Congo
E-mail : gkasanda@hotmail.com
Mr. Agyin-Birikorang
Sampson
B.Sc. Agriculture c/o Mr. Birikorang Kofi,
Redemption Presbyterian
Church, Community Eleven,
P.O. Box 11292, Tema, Ghana
E-mail :
Sambirikorang58@hotmail.
com
Ms. Deprez Sarah
Lic. Physical Geography
W. Tellstraat 1, 8370
Blankenberge
E-mail :
Sarah.Deprez@UGent.be
Mr. Sanchez Fernando
Civil Engineer
Hormigonera Quito, Av.
Simon Eolivar c/n E
Interoceanica, Quito, Ecuador
E-mail : jfsa101@hotmail.com
Ms. Thanpornanun Intira
Bachelor of Industrial
Technology in Civil
Engineering
53/156 Sawavetee Road,
Nakonsawan 60000, Thailand
E-mail : thanpornanun@hotmail.com
Mr. Khlosi Muhammed
B.Sc. Agr. Eng.
Soil and Land Reclamation
Department, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of
Damascus, Syria
E-mail :
Muhammed.Khlosi@UGent.
be
Mr. Obade Vincent de Paul
B.Sc. Surveying
P.O. Box 62606, Nairobi,
Kenya
E-mail :
VincentdePaul.Obade@UGent.
be
- 8 -

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Mr. Pacaldo Renato
B.Sc. Forestry
P.O. Box 5630, 9200 Illigan
City, The Philippines
E-mail :
Renato.Pacaldo@UGent.be
Mr. Pancholi Viral Panasbhai
B.Sc. Agriculture
Mohan-Shamji Vasani's House,
Dubani Ya Pa, Amreli,
365601, Gujarat, India
E-mail :
Viralbhai.Pancholi@UGent.be
Ms. Shiningayamwe Ella
B.Sc. Agronomy
P/Bag 5005, 9000 Katima
Mukilo, Namibia
E-mail :
Ella.Shiningayamwe@UGent.
be
Ms. Simons Preciosa
B.Sc. Geology
Maanbloemstraat 7,
Paramaribo, Suriname
E-mail :
Preciosa.Simons@UGent.be
Mr. Tesfa Kelemewerk Tegegn
B.Sc. Forestry
P.O. Box 30708, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
E-mail :
Tegegn.TesfaKelemewerk@
UGent.be
Mr. Tesfaye Melaku Tsegaye
B.Sc. Agriculture
P.O. Box 138, Dire Dawa,
Ethiopia
E-mail :
MelakuTsegaye.Tesfaye@UGe nt.be
Option :
Analysis of Physical Land Resources
Ms. Goethals Tanja
CHARACTERISATION OF THE PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION POTENTIAL IN
THE MAYAGA, RWANDA
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst
Contact address : Bloemendaelelaan 13, 9990
Maldegem
Abstract
The main objective of this thesis was to implement a quantitative land evaluation for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the Mayaga region, one of the twelve agro-ecological zones in Rwanda. To become familiar with the specific situation and potential problems of the
Mayaga, the physical aspects of the region have been described.
Especially the differentiation between soil types and the influence of climate were studied. Based on the available data on climate, physical characteristics, soils and land-use of this region, the agricultural production potential of the region has been calculated and commented.
The season March-June was more productive than the season October-
January. The main limiting factors of production were the low and irregular precipitation, the high acidity and the high slope gradients.
Advised amendments are thus temporary irrigation, liming and antierosion measures.
Mr. Landázuri Arteaga Roberto
OXYGEN DIFFUSION AND ITS RELATION TO
THE MOISTURE CONTENT IN A LOAMY SAND
SOIL
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. H. Verplancke
Contact address : Jorge Páez N47-364 y Gonzalo
Salazar, La Concepción, Quito, Ecuador
Abstract
The influence of moisture content on soil respiration in terms of oxygen consumption, and on oxygen diffusion in a loamy sand soil was accounted for. Soil respiration was measured in glass bottles of
250 ml, filled with air-dry soil with different moisture contents and incubated at 20 °C. Oxygen concentrations were measured using gas chromatography within a 100 hours interval. Additionally, respiration was measured on samples contaminated with a diesel concentration of
2000 ppm. Oxygen diffusion was measured using a diffusion apparatus loaded with soil samples of different moisture contents. A strong relationship between the respiration coefficient and the moisture content was found. The relation between oxygen diffusion and moisture content was found to be the power function
D p
= 32 , 39 ⋅ θ
3 , 2842
.
Ms. Lievens Caroline
The Retention of Heavy Metals in Soils of Flanders
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst, Prof. Dr. ir. F.
Tack
Contact address : Steenweg op Rijkevorsel 29, 3330
Merksplas
Abstract
A study was done to investigate the difference between amorphous and crystalline Fe, Mn and Al oxides in the retention of heavy metals (Cd,
Cu, Pb, Zn) in soils. Eight different soils with different mineralogical composition were manipulated in three different ways to induce amorphous and crystalline oxides. Oxides were determined with selective extraction (NH
2
OH.HCl), XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy and the heavy metals with AAS.
Option :
Use of Physical Land Resources
Ms. Gebremariam Almaz Asfaw
ANALYSIS OF PUMPING TESTS WITH
MODFLOW
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. F. De Smedt
Contact address : P.O. Box 80957, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
- 9 -

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Abstract
Pumping tests are the most suitable means for achieving reliable and representative values of the hydraulic characteristics in aquifers and layers of low permeability. The data collected in the field by pumping test should be analysed by producing standard graphs manually to match with or by using some computer softwares. Aquifer Test version
3 is one of the softwares which provides essential facilities to process pumping test data with the aim of estimating the aquifer properties.
The solution methods available in the Aquifer Test cover, the full range of physical situations as: unconfined, confined and leaky confined aquifer. MODFLOW is a three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater model. Groundwater flow within the aquifer is simulated in MODFLOW using a block-centered finite-difference approach.
Layers can be simulated as confined, unconfined, or a combination of both. Flows from external stresses such as flow to wells, areal recharge, evapotranspiration, flow to drains, and flow through riverbeds can also be simulated The aim of these of the work is :
− To estimate the aquifer characteristics such as conductivity, storativity and specific yield using Aquifer Test software for sandy unconfined and leaky confined aquifers which are located in the province of Antwerp (Belgium).
− To calibrate the estimated parameters by performing comparison between the measured and the calculated ground water potentials using Visual modflow.
− To compare the hydrologic parameters of the unconfined quifer with the confined leacky aquifer.
Ms. Heyvaert Vanessa
MODELLING OF SOIL EROSION WITH GIS :
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT MODELS. CASE
STUDY : CHACHOENGCAO PROVINCE
THAILAND
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. M. Van Molle
Contact address : Patrijzenlaan 3, 9470 Denderleeuw,
Belgium
Abstract
This thesis was accomplished within the framework of a project between the VUB, Department of Geography, and the Department of
Land Development, Bangkok. The dynamics of erosion processes in an agricultural area, located in Ban Huai Plachon, Tambon Khao Hin
Sorn, Amphoe Phanomsarakam, Chachoengsao Province, Thailand, were studied. The annual soil loss in the study area was modelled with the 'Morgan, Morgan and Finey method' and the 'Revised Universal
Soil Loss Equation'. The RUSLE is the best known and most widely used soil erosion model in Thailand. The modelling was preceded by an intensive fieldwork (August-September 2001), during which all off the observed erosion figures were mapped. The verification of the model results (annual soil loss maps) with reality (erosion risk map) was accomplished by means of error matrices. Special attention was given to the different soil conservation strategy's and land-management practices in use in the study area, and the success of these practices.
The calculation and verification of the modelled soil loss was carried out with the GIS ILWIS software package (Integrated Land and Water
Information System).
fracture zones that were created by tectonic activities, are extracted from Landsat TM image by applying image interpretation techniques.
Otherwise, the transmissivity parameter of each borehole is obtained by processing data of the pumping test. Twelve boreholes are employed to verify hypothesis and the result has indicated that there is a strong correlation between the density of lineaments in the vicinity of boreholes and the transmissivity of wells.
Mr. Paredes Mendez Diego
STABILIZATION OF CLAYS FROM ECUADOR
FOR CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES BY USING
MINERAL POLYMERISATION
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. J. Wastiels
Contact address : Nicolas Lopez OE-357 and Av. La
Prensa, Quito, Ecuador
Abstract
Soil stabilization, is a technique designed to enhance soil properties such as stability, strength, permeability and durability by mechanical, physical-chemical, thermal and other means. The goal of soil stabilization is to create an improved soil material possessing desired engineering properties. In conjunction with mineral polymerization technique, kaolinitic soils can even be stabilized and transformed into artificial rock. Mineral polymerization, refers to the reaction between alkali (sodium hydroxide NaOH) and aluminosilicates minerals
(kaolinite) at hydrothermal conditions (80°C).
For this study, two samples from Ecuador were used as raw materials.
Sample 1, was brought from Puerto Quito situated 150 km Northwest of Quito. Sample 2 was from El Puyo, situated in the northeast of
Ecuador. Sample 1 was ultimately rejected, because of lack of kaolinte content (Chapter 4), which made it unsuitable for the purposes of this work. Several series of specimens were made from sample 2, by changing amounts of NaOH and water content. Three specimens of each series were then subjected to three different treatments. Dried at
40°C for seven days. Immersed in demineralised water for seven days, and five drying and wetting cycles. After these treatments, the specimens were subjected to a uniaxial compression test in order to analyse their strength and stability. In addition their water absorption, loss of strength, and loss of density were analysed. Analysis determined that the maximum values of compressive strength of the specimens were obtained in DNP2 (Chapter 5) with 13.84 MPa (dry condition), 8.35 MPa (immersed condition) and 9.14 MPa (cycling condition), at 2.58% of NaOH.
Mr. Phan Duc Le
STABILIZATION OF KAOLINITIC SOIL FROM
VIETNAM FOR CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. J. Wastiels
Contact address : RIGMR, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi,
Vietnam
Mr. Long Nguyen Thanh
LINEAMENT EXTRACTION FOR
HYDROGEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF NAM LA
Promoter(s) : Drs. O. Batelaan
Contact address : RIGMR, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi,
Vietnam
Abstract
Nowadays remote sensing has been used widely in hydrological surveys and it has become a promising method in hydrological studies.
This research is performed within the framework of the project "Rural development in mountain karst area of NW Vietnam by sustainable water and land management and social learning: its condition and facilitation". Its aim is to apply a remote sensing technique to investigate relationship between the productivity of wells and lineament density of the contiguous area. Lineaments related to
Abstract
In this paper, the possibility of applying stabilized kaolinitic soils from
Viet Nam for construction purpose is investigated. First a brief overview of the geology of the mines is presented, which shows the large natural potentiality of the Viet Nam kaolinitic soil. For the actual laboratory study, three samples (the HK1 soil, The TB1 soil and the
MT1 soil) from the three mines were subjected to various geotechnical tests and kaolinitic mineralogical analyses. A study of three kaolinitic soils from Viet Nam showed that, the soils were stabilized with the amount of water content in varying quantities and the moulded and cured specimens subjected to various tests to evaluate their response to the stabilization. The maximum strength of
34.00N/mm2 under dry condition (S1) is obtained for the HK1 soil by using 7.6% of water content and by using 4.4% NaOH. The maximum strength of 18.25 N/mm2 (S1) was obtained when the water was 8.0% for the TB1 soil and by using 3.8% NaOH. The maximum strength of
13.01 N/mm2 was obtained when 6.7 % the water contents for (S1) for the MT1 soil and by using 2.2% NaOH. The optimal water content greatly influenced the mechanical and physical characteristics of the construction materials :
1. 7.6% of the composite material (that means, 26% of the soil) for the
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STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
HK1 soil; 2. 8.0% of the composite material (that means, 27% of the soil) for the TB1 soil; 3. 6.7% of the composite material (that means,
22% of the soil) for the MT soil .
influence of distance in cost was revealed leading to the conclusion that the determination of a real land value should consider the identification and consideration of various variables.
Option :
Management of Physical Land
Resources
Mr. Foko Kamga Yves Alain
ORGANIC CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND
SLOW-RELEASE OF NUTRIENTS IN A SOIL
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. W. Verstraete
Contact address : P.O. Box 2252, Douala, Cameroon
Mr. Abuaku Ebenezer
GROWTH OF DUCKWEED ON ANAEROBIC
DIGESTER EFFLUENT
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. W. Verstraete
Contact address : P.O. Box 567, Cape Coast, Ghana
Abstract
Laboratory scale batch experiments were performed under controlled conditions at different dilutions of anaerobic digester effluent. to establish the possibility of growing duckweed ( Lemna minor ) on anaerobic digester effluent and to assess its nutrient recovery capabilities. The results indicated that Lemna minor was capable of growing on the anaerobic digester effluent, provided the TAN concentrations did not exceed 98.7 mg/L at pH 8.0 (calculated as 8 mg/L ammonia concentration).
Mr. Akalie Ameha Solomon
INFLUENCE OF THE WATER AVAILABILITY
ON THE GROWTH OF ERAGROSTIS TEF
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. H. Verplancke
Contact address : P.O. Box 1540, Nazareth, Ethiopia
Abstract
Tef is a cereal crop that grows very well under various stress conditions and extensively used in Ethiopia. A green house experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of water availability on the growth, development and biomass yield and to determine the permanent wilting point of tef. Five levels of available water content were used as treatments with three replications for each.
Continuous plant parameter and soil water measurements were conducted to determine the permanent wilting point.
The results revealed that there was significant difference in biomass yield, water use efficiency, some chemical and physical soil properties among treatments. However reasonable yield could be obtained at different water levels. The results also showed that the permanent wilting point of tef on average between three selected growth stages could be lower than -54 bar.
Mr. Andal Alex
ECONOMIC APPROACHES TO LAND
VALUATION IN DAVAO CITY (THE
PHILIPPINES) WITH GIS
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. G. Van Huylenbroeck
Contact address : N° 8 Banca-Banca, Victoria,
Laguna, 4011, the Philippines
Abstract
One of the factors that contribute to the inefficient management of government lands under the administration of the Lands Management
Bureau in the Philippines is known to be the inefficient valuation as manifested by the extensive amount of loss in government revenues. It was found out that while there are laws and regulations that govern the administration of government lands, there is an absence of an efficient method that considers pricing variables and their influences in cost. As one of the many parameters of land values, distance was measured with GIS tools and analyzed its effect in cost. The magnitude of the
Abstract
Farmers from developing countries, with low level of income, mainly rely on organic material to improve the agricultural productivity. In humid tropical climate, it degrades so fast that their use efficiency by plants is minimized when applied to soil. Laboratory study was carried out to investigate the possibility of increasing the turnover time of compost by formaldehyde (formol) and lignosulphonate treatments.
The carbon sequestration aspect was carried out through the measurement of respiration rate and the fertility aspect was assessed by the study of N evolution as a function of time in the different treatments. At the contrary of fumigating formol and sprayed lignosulphonate, spraying formol gave promising results after the 93 days experimental period, due to the lower concentration of formaldehyde in the compost and the lower room temperature of the processing of the compost organic matter.
Mr. Gunawan Yudhi
ASSESSMENT OF EROSION RISK IN THE
CITARIK SUBWATERSHED, WEST JAVA,
INDONESIA
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. G. Gabriels
Contact address : Jl. Melon Raya I N° 7 RT 02/RW
07, Bulak Indah, Karangasem 57145, Surakarta,
Central Java, Indonesia
Abstract
This study was conducted at Citarik Subwatershed, West Java,
Indonesia in order to estimate the soil loss. To assess and predict the soil erosion, the empirical model of Revised Universal Soil Loss
Equation (RUSLE), developed by Renard et al. (1996) was applied.
Input data such as rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length and slope steepness, crop management and support practice were collected to calculate the average annual soil erosion The highest average actual erosion loss was obtained for annual upland farming (741.0 t/ha.yr).
The paddy field cultivated at slope less than 8% has the lowest average actual soil erosion (2.4 t/ha.yr). Controlled soil erosion can be done by applying the combination of adapted crop type and appropriate practice support.
Mr. Jin Ke
RUNOFF AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT UNDER
FIELD SIMULATED RAINFALL IN THE
EASTERN PART OF THE LOESS PLATEAU IN
CHINA
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. D. Gabriels, Prof. Dr. ir. R.
Hartmann
Contact address : Soils and Fertilizers Institute,
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, N° 30,
Baishiqiao Road, Beijing 100081, China
Abstract
This research is carried out in the framework of the Belgo-Sino Cooperation project (VLIR-EI 13v33498 project). The influence of precipitation on runoff and sediment transport on a silt loam soil of the
Loess Plateau near Luoyang (Henan Province, China) is investigated by means of field rainfall simulations. The results were compared with infiltration measurements using a double ring infiltrometer and results of the Green-Ampt model. The presence of a sealed layer was examined using a penetrometer. As concerns the sediment transport, a relationship was found between the stream power and the unit sediment load of the runoff water. The different factors of the USLE were estimated for the experimental fields near Luoyang, in order to
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STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES assess the annual actual erosion under conventional tillage.
Ms. Lahai Martha Alice
MONO- AND MULTITEMPORAL FOREST
TYPES MAPPING IN SIERRA LEONE USING
CAORSE RESOLUTION SATELLITE DATA
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. R. De Wulf
Contact address : Dept. of Geography and Rural
Development, Njala Univ. Col., Univ. of Sierra
Leone, Samuels 4A, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Abstract
Forest resources assessment in Sierra Leone is obsolete and the actual forest resource is not precisely known. This research therefore sought to rapidly assess spatial and temporal patterns of seasonality on forest cover using coarse resolution satellite data. A vegetation map of the study area (the entire territory of Sierra Leone) was digitized and used as reference data. Thirteen multispectral satellite images of Africa obtained by SPOT Vegetation Monitoring Instrument were classified.
A time series of the satellite data from November 2000 to November
2001 was then compiled. Changes in forest cover were mapped, and the effects of seasonality was examined using vegetation index differencing, time series analysis, change vector analysis and post classification comparison. By November 2001, the predominant type of vegetation found in the study area was forest regrowth. Major factors of change were shifting agriculture and logging. Seasonal variability also influences forest cover mapping. The results indicated the potential usefulness and limitations of coarse resolution satellite data for mapping and assessing vegetation cover on a national scale.
Mr. Martosatiman Simon
RELATION BETWEEN MINERALOGY AND
CONTENTS OF HEAVY METALS IN FLEMISH
SOILS
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst, Prof. Dr. ir. F.
Tack
Contact address : Billitonstraat n° 3, Wanica,
Suriname
Abstract
The ‘normal background’ values for heavy metals depend on different soil parameters including the contents of clay and organic carbon, the pH and the mineralogical composition of the parent material. Using a data set of the Flemish region, 47 samples were selected, assumed to have a ‘normal background’ values for the elements Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cr and Cd. From these samples the minerals have been determined by Xray diffraction. To find out if there is a relation between the mineralogy and the normal background contents of the soils in
Flanders, the samples are grouped on the basis of their mineralogical composition. Analysis of variance are performed to find out if there are differences in contents of heavy metals between the groups.
Mr. Ngwakongnwi Emmanuel
THE USE OF A GLOBAL POSITIONING
SYSTEM AND ELECTROMAGNETIC
INDUCTION IN DETAIL SOIL MAPPING
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. M. Van Meirvenne
Contact address : Bafut-Tubah, Mezam, Cameroon
Mr. Lamsal Sanjay
BIOAVAILABILITY OF HEAVY METALS IN
CONTAMINATED DREDGED SEDIMENTS :
IMPLICATIONS FOR PHYTOREMEDIATION
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. M. Verloo
Contact address : P.O. Box 3680, Kathmandu, Nepal
Abstract
The bioavailability of heavy metals in contaminated dredged sediments was studied with reference to metal accumulating plant willow ( Salix sp .). A greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the tolerance of willow to different environmental stress.
Heavy metal accumulation in willow occurs in the order: leaf > bark > wood, and high accumulation of Zn and Cd proved the potential of willows for phytoremediation. No single extracting reagent can give a precise estimate of bioavailability of metals in soils. Rather, aqua regia and NH
4
OAc-7.0 extraction of Zn and Cd in the soil can be used to predict its content in the leaves. Similarly, Zn content in the bark can be deduced from total Zn content in the soil. Greenhouse experiment showed that while NRT is a poor indicator, NRBM and NRDW are efficient parameters to indicate willow tolerance to stress conditions.
Abstract
The importance of Fe, Mn and Al oxides in retaining heavy metals
(Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in soils of Flanders was studied. Eight soils were manipulated in three different ways, during a few weeks. The oxides were determined with selective extractions, X-ray diffraction and
Mössbauer spectroscopy. The heavy metals were determined with
AAS. It was found that Fe and Mn oxides are sensible for the changing moisture conditions in the soil and that Al oxides do not precipitate or dissolve in response to changing O2-content in the soil.
The changing conditions did not result in very clear trends in concentrations of Fe and Mn oxides as anticipated. These results are confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The retention of heavy metals by oxides, varied from 20 to sometimes 90% with a mean of 50%.
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STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Dr. Cornelis Wim
Present function and address : Postdoc Academic
Assistant, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000
Gent
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Erosion of dry and wet sediment induced by wind and wind-driven rain : a wind-tunnel study
Date of promotion : April 17, 2002
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. D. Gabriels, Prof. Dr. ir. R.
Hartmann
Curriculum vitae :
Wim Cornelis (°1969, Diksmuide, Belgium) obtained in
1992 the degree of Agricultural Engineer (Forestry) at
Ghent University. In 1994 he obtained at the same university the degree of M.Sc. in Eremology (Desert
Sciences). In 2002, he succesfully completed the PhD training in Applied Biological Sciences at Ghent
University. Wim Cornelis is working since July 1994 at the
Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent
Unversity, first as a scientific co-worker on a dust pollution project, and later as an academic assistant. At present, he is still attached to the same department as an academic doctor-assistant. His research and educational domains cover soil physics and soil erosion. Within these domains, he is currently author or co-author of 16 A1 publications, and several other publications in proceedings of national and international workshops, symposia and conferences. He coordinated one national and one international workshop, and one international symposium. He was further promoter of several Bioengineer and M.Sc. thesises. He finally carried out various expert missions in the frame of international development cooperation projects to Tunisia, Vietnam, Cuba, China and South-Africa, in which he was closely involved in the scientific research.
Abstract :
The dissertation attempts to contribute to a better understanding of some key parameters that influence the onset of wind erosion, in particular the effect of moisture content and wind-driven rain on deflation and transport of sediment. Further, attention was paid the optimal design of windscreens. All conclusions made in this dissertation are based on wind-tunnel experiments, conducted at het
International Centre for Eremology (ICE), Ghent
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University. In a first part, the aerodynamic characteristics of the ICE wind tunnel were investigated and zones where the air current is homogeneous were denoted. Further, a simple low-cost sediment catcher was designed to measure total mass transport rates in wind-tunnel experiments. In a second part, a simple moment balance model to predict the threshold shear velocity to induce deflation of dry loose particles was presented. The model assumes the aerodynamic effects to be independent of the Reynolds number and the cohesion force between two particles to be primarily dependent of van der Waals forces. The model was calibrated and validated using wind-tunnel data from literature and from our own experiments. In a third part, the effects of near-surface moisture on the deflation process was studied. An evaluation of widely-used deflation models for wet sediment showed a great divergence between the model predictions. The deflation model developed in part two was therefore extented for wet sediment. Existing theory on liquid bridge bonding
(capillaire forces) and absorbed layer bonding (adhesive forces) was reanalysed applying state-of-the-art knowledge on soil water retention phenomena. The model was calibrated and validated using wind-tunnel data from our own experiments and from simulations with Chepil’s model. In a fourth part, the effect of wind-driven rain on detachment and transport of sediment was studied. Simple equations were presented for the vertical and horizontal mass flux, and for the trajectory length and height of particles in rain-splash saltation. A model was also presented to predict the total mass transport rate as a function of the normal component of the kinetic ernergy or momentum of the raindrops and the shear velocity of the wind. It was shown that considerable amounts of sediment can be transported by wind, even during periods of heavy rain. The final part went into more practical aspects of wind erosion, in particular into optimal windbreak design for wind-erosion control. It was shown that an evenly distibuted porosity of the windbreak results in the longest protected area with an optimal overal porosity varying between 0.20 and 0.32 m 2 m -2 . The longest shelter zone was also obtained from single-row windbreaks compared to multi-row breaks.
Dr. Mintesinot Behailu
Present function and address : Vice President, Mekelle
University
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Assessment and Optimization of
Traditional Irrigation of Vertisols in Northern
Ethiopia : a case study at Gumselasa Microdam using
Maize as an Indicator Crop
Date of promotion : May 6, 2002

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. H. Verplancke, Prof. Dr. E. Van
Ranst
Curriculum vitae :
Mintesinot Behailu was born on November 29, 1970 in
Debrezeit (Shoa), Ethiopia. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Arid Zone Soil and Water Conservation with
"Distinction" in 1990 from Asmara University, the then
Ethiopia. He was awarded with the University President's
Medal for best performance. As a pioneer graduate of the
Arid Zone programme, and owing to his performance, he was employed by the same University ot serve as a graduate assistant. After a year, the Arid Zone programme was moved to Alemaya University, as a result, Mintesinot had to join Alemaya University, where he served from
1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1995 he followed the master's degree programme in Eremology at Ghent University,
Belgium and obtained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Eremology with "great distinction". He was awarded with the "De Boodt-Maselis prize" for best performance amongst his peers.
Upon return to his country, Mintesinot joined the Mekelle
University College, an offspring of the Arid Zone programme. At the University College he was involved in teaching and research. He had also served as an Assistant
Dan from 1997 to 2000. In May 2000, when the University
College was elevated to a full-fledged University,
Mintesinot was appointed as the Vice President for
Academics and Research. He is currently serving the
University with the same capacity. He is also a coordinator of various inter-university collaboration projects.
In 1988, he was enrolled as a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences at the
Department of Soil Management Soil Care, Gent,
Belgium. He was awarded a scholarship through the collaborative project between Ghent University and
Mekelle University, entitled "Strengthening Soil and Water
Sciences Training and Research at Mekelle University,
Ethiopia), funded by VLIR (Flemish Interuniversity
Council). The Sandwich Programme enabled him to undertake a field research in his native country for three years.
During the period 1995-2000, Mr. Mintesinot has attended several international training courses and workshops.
Abstract
The overall goal of the current study was to look to possible technologies of irrigation water management on
Vertisols so as to increase the productivity of water on these soils. To achieve this goal, a comparative study was undertaken between the traditional irrigation management and optimized technologies using maize as an indicator crop. The optimized technologies included surge/intermittent irrigation, precise/full irrigation and deficit/alternate furrow irrigation.
After detailed understanding of the hydro-physical behavior of the Vertisols, a comparative field test was undertaken among the various technologies over two irrigation seasons (1998/1999 and 1999/2000). Results of the study were compared at three levels : yield-based, water productivity-based and economic productivity-based comparisons.
Yield-based comparison has shown that surge irrigation management results the highest yield levels, followed by precise/full irrigation and then alternate furrow (deficit) irrigation. The traditional management gave the lowest yield levels. The yield increase (by surge management) was found to be 59% over the traditional management.
Water productivity-based comparison has shown that surge management results the highest water productivity values followed by alternate furrow/deficit irrigation and then precise/full irrigation. The traditional management gave the lowest water productivity levels. The productivity increase (by surge management) was found to be 60% over the traditional management.
Economic productivity-based comparison has shown that the highest economic return was obtained from surge/intermittent management, followed by precise/full irrigation, deficit/alternate furrow irrigation and lastly from traditional irrigation. The increase in income (by surge management) over the traditional management was found to be 61%.
The overall conclusion is that, under the condition this study was undertaken and for agro-ecologies of similar set-up, surge/intermittent irrigation management on
Vertisols is the best water management option.
Dr. Achmad Fauzi Isa
Present function and address : researcher; staff of the
Center for Soil and Agroclimate Research (CSAR), Jalan
Simpang Curug, Kelurahan Semplak RT16/05, N° 49,
Bogor Barat 16114, Indonesia
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Pedogenesis and classification of soils in Banten, West Java, Indonesia
Date of promotion : June 2002
Promoter(s) : Dr. Siti Zauyah Darus, Prof. Dr. Georges
Stoops
Curriculum vitae :
Achmad Fauzi Isa was born in Jakarta (Indonesia) on
August 13, 1953. He graduated from Bogor Agriculture
University in 1978 and obtained an M.Sc. degree in Soil
Science from Ghent University in 1980. Since 1978, he is attached to the Centre for Soil and Agroclimate Research
(CSAR) in Bogor, where he was first attached to the
Laboratory of Mineralogy and involved in soil genesis
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STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES studies of volcanic soils. Later he worked as soil surveyor and team leader in soil mapping and land resource and suitability evaluation projects. In the period 1995-2002, he completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. studies in the frame of the
Twin Programme of University Putra Malaysia and Ghent
University. At present, he is attached to CSAR as researcher.
Abstract :
Soils on three toposequences in Anyer, Carita and Saketi areas in Banten Province, West Java, and soils on Rakata
Island (Krakatau volcano) in Sunda Strait, Indonesia, have been sampled for pedogenetic studies and classification.
The soils in Banten developed on the slopes of the
Quaternary volcanic complex and the sedimentary facies with different annual rainfall and vegetation. The objectives of this study were to determine the soil physical, chemical, mineralogical and micromorphological properties, to study the genesis of the soils, to determine the effects of the Krakatau ash and to classify the soils according to Soil Taxonomy and World Reference Base.
The results showed that all the soils on the slope of the volcanic complex have been strongly weathered to form yellowish brown to red deep soils with high clay content, low pH, low base and various CEC. Mineralogical characteristics of these soils point to dominant kaolinite in the clay fraction, crystobalite and quartz in the silt fractions and opaque minerals in the sand fractions. The mineralogical characteristics indicate that most of the soils may be formed from andesitic volcanic ash. The relative higher amount of weatherable minerals with pumice in the surface horizon confirmed that the soil were rejuvenated by fresh volcanic ash from the eruption of Krakatau volcano in 1883. The effects of the Krakatau ash were not shown at the soils on the lower slope of the Saketi toposequence. These soils developed from sedimentary facies which were comprised of acid tuff, claystone and sandstone. These soils are characterized by yellowish brown colour, clay textured B horizons with various sand content with depth, low pH, low base and various CEC.
Pedogenesis processes of these soils were strongly influenced by the parent material, climate and vegetation.
Clay illuviation was more evident in the Anyer soils where rainfall is lower compared to Carita and Saketi Soils. In contrast, pedoturbation and homogenisation increase with the wetter climate and forest vegetation in Carita and
Saketi. Soils on sedimentary facies in Saketi consist of relatively high quartz sand fraction and more yellow colour than the soils on andesitic volcanic ash. The addition of Krakatau ash in 1883 has caused an increase in exchangeable bases, sand and silt fractions especially in
Anyer and higher amount of amorphous materials in the soils at higher elevation of Saketi toposequence. Soils in
Anyer were classified as Typic Paleudults according to
Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 1999), or Abruptic
Acrisols according to World Reference Base (ISSS-
ISRIC-FAO, 1998). While in Saketi, the soils which developed on sedimentary facies were classified as Typic
Paleudults, but as Profondic Acrisols or Luvisols according to the World Reference Base. Volcanic soils under forest at the lower elevation in Carita can be classified as Andic Tropudults or Humic Acrisols and as
Andic Dystrudepts at the higher elevation.
Dr. Fassil Kebede Yimamu
Present function and address : Dean, Mekelle University
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Analysis of yield gaps and constraints for rainfed wheat production on Vertisols in the Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia : case-study in
Adigudum"
Date of promotion : September 2002
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst, Prof. Dr. ir. H.
Verplancke
Curriculum vitae :
Fassil Kebede was born on November 4, 1962 in Gondar,
North Ethiopia. He obtained his M.Sc. degree in
Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science with honors from
Timiriyazev Agricultral Academy, Moscow in 1990. Based on his academic performance, he immediately joined the
Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Faculty of
Arid Zone Agriculture, Asmara University securing a teaching and research position. After a year, when the
Faculty of Arid Zone Agriculture moved to Alemaya
University, Fassil had to join Alemaya University. There he served from 1991-1993. In 1993, the Arid Zone
Agriculture Program officially shifted to Mekelle where it started as College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural
Resource. Fassil, being one of the pioneers, transferred to
Mekelle in September 1993 where he is serving until now at various capacity. He headed the Department of Soil and water Conservation from 1993 for four years until he left, in 1997, for Belgium to pursue further studies; when
Mekelle University College was upgraded to the level of
University in May 2000, Fassil holds up a deanship position to the present.
Fassil obtained several advanced trainings of which
"Advanced Training in Soil Management and Irrigation" from Agricultural Research Organization, Israel and
"Advanced Soil Analysis" from North Wales University,
Bangor, U.K. are worth to mention. In 1998, Fassil obtained M.Sc. degree in Eremology and Soil Science with
Distinction from Ghent University. Immediately in 1998, he enrolled the Ph.D. programme in Earth Sciences at the
Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University through the collaborative (VLIR) project between Mekelle University and Ghent University, entitled as "Strengthening Soil and
Water Conservation Training and Research in Ethiopia".
He undertook the fieldwork from 1998 to 2001 in Ethiopia.
Abstract :
This study is aimed at determining the various wheat yield levels, establishing yield gaps, investigating constraints of
- 15 -

wheat production on Vertisols under smallholder conditions thereby suggesting measures for sustaining better grain production. Four wheat yield levels were determined, namely the Radiation-limited Production
Potential (RPP), the Water-limited Production Potential
(WPP), yields from the experimental sites during the
1999-2000 cropping seasons and yields from farmers managed plots.
During the 1999 and 2000 cropping seasons, the highest aggregated wheat yield obtained from the experimental plots was 2.89 t/ha and 1.62 t/ha with the phosphorus rate of 24 kg/ha and 48 kg/ha from banding and broadcasting techniques of placement respectively. This implies that P placed in bands is more effective than that in broadcast.
The RPP and WPP wheat yield levels were 5.48 t/ha and
4.99 t/ha respectively. The aggregated mean wheat yield from the farmers managed plots was 0.84 t/ha. The magnitude of Yield Gap I refers to the difference between the RPP and the WPP. The present study revealed that the difference between the RPP and WPP was the lowest (0.49
t/ha), which is 8.9%. The magnitude of Yield Gap II refers to the difference between the WPP and the experimental yield. During the investigation it was found that the yield levels from banding and broadcasting experimental plots was lower by 2.1 t/ha and 3.37 t/ha respectively than that of the WPP. The magnitude of Yield Gap II in percent was
38.3% and 61.5% respectively. The magnitude of Yield
Gap III refers to the difference between the experimental and the farmers' yields. In this study, it was found that the aggregated mean yield of farmers was lower by 2.05 t/ha than that of the banded plot and by 0.78 t/ha than that of the broadcasted one.
The constraints for Yield Gaps I and II were mainly due to climatic factors like amount of rainfall. The constraints for
Yield Gap III were mainly moisture deficiency at flowering period, weed infestation, poor nutrient management and late sowing.
The current farmers' wheat yield levels can be increased by improving the efficiency all along with wheat production line, beginning with timely sowing, increased and sustainable use of plant nutrients, adoption of supplemental irrigation practice, improved control of menacing weeds, pests and diseases.
STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
Dr. Hajib El Kasmi
Present function and address : Assistant Professor, Dept.
Rural Economy, ENA-Mèknes
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Elaboration of a decision support system for land evaluation and land use planning in the region of Meknes (Morocco)
Date of promotion : September 30, 2002
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst
Curriculum vitae :
Hajib EL KASMI was born in 1963 in Taounate, Morocco.
In 1985, he obtained his "General Agronomy Diploma" from the Institute of Agricultural & Veterinary Science,
Hassan-II, (IAVH-II) at Rabat (Morocco). He thereafter attained graduate courses at the University of Minnesota
(USA) in plant breeding. In 1987, he graduated from
IAVH-II as agricultural engineer in plant breeding. In
1996, he obtained, with a great distinction, his M.Sc.
degree, option Land use planning, from ITC, Ghent
University.
After serving about two years (1989-90) as research assistant at the Department of "Rural Economics",
National School of Agriculture at Meknès (ENA-Meknès),
Morocco, Hajib EL KASMI joined the teaching staff as
Assistant Professor in the field of information systems and information technologies applied to the decision process in economics. In addition, he is actually, responsible and administrator of the local area network at the ENA-
Meknès.
As Instructor, Hajib EL KASMI teaches, since 1990, the course "Computers applied to economics". As trainer, he has animated many training courses dealing with databases' and Information management for agricultural economics and marketing, statistical and econometric data analyses, Agricultural monitoring and evaluation information systems. As trainee, he has attended 2 international training courses on; "Computers in
Management" held at the University of Connecticut, USA,
June- July, 1993; and the "Use of GAMS in General
Equilibrium Model Solving", IAM-Montpellier, France,
December, 12-19, 1993. As promoter, he supervised 15 rd memoires in the fulfilment of the requirements for 3
Cycle cursus at ENA-Meknès, in the field of rural economics and agricultural information systems. As participant to seminars, he contributed with oral presentations to a number of international seminars.
Lately, he presented intermediate results from his Ph.D. in two international seminars; the International meeting on soils of Mediterranean type of climate, Barcelona, July,
1999., and the International seminar on prospect for sustainability, Menemen, Turkey, May, 2001. As Research consultant, he was enrolled in many projects and coauthored the related reports. Most of his assignment was dealing with the establishment of information systems and statistical and econometric analyses. As IT specialist, he has set up three computer applications for the payroll for
- 16 -

Public and Private sectors and general accounting for
Moroccan Agricultural Sector. He is also the responsible of the installation and administration of the local area network at ENA-Meknès. He ensures the administration of the ENA-Meknès web and Intranet sites.
In addition to the land use planning and the information technologies in agricultural decision process, some of his fields of interest are Economic modelling: Inter-regional,
Inter-sectorial and general equilibrium models; Micro &
Macro-economic evaluation of agricultural innovations;
Investment & Marketing in agricultural sector;
Mathematical programming applied to agricultural
Management: Multi-criteria and multi-objectives analyses.
Besides professional activities, Hajib El Kasmi is involved in two NGO, he is the President and founder member of the Association AMAL-21 for the environment protection and social development in the region of Meknès-Tafilalet; and a founder member of the Association ASSOUROUR for the social development in the region of El Hajeb.
Abstract :
Morocco is a country of agriculture-based economy, and hence the call for sustainability management of its agroecosystems is becoming an urgent need. However, if sustainable land use is sought, scientists and land use planners are appealed to alleviate the gaps that exists between scientists' methodologies and the decisionmakers' practices. In narrowing such gaps, a need for adequate and easy to use land evaluation (LE) system to base LUP is felt. The present work aims to contribute to initiate the use of the sustainability and information technology (IT) concepts to serve the long-term sustainability research and practice in the region of
Meknès in Morocco. To achieve this goal, the present work has been conducted with three major objectives: 1) to elaborate a framework integrating biophysical and socio-economic parameters into a unified LE model; 2) to set up a LIS for the study area by collecting and organising spatial and tabular data; and 3) to devise a computer-based
DSS for LE and LUP in the region of Meknès: the
Meknès-LUPDSS.
A model is set to be of four hierarchical levels of production potential: 1) the radiation production potential
( RPP ); 2) the water-limited production potential ( WPP ); 3) the natural production potential ( NPP ); and 4) the land production potential ( LPP ). From one level to another, a set of limitation factors reduces the crop production potential in multiplicative manner. To assess these potentials for a given crop, four known methodologies are conducted successively. The FAO-IIASA/AEZ methodology and the related land productivity concept is used for determining the RPP.
The FAO crop water requirement procedures are used for assessing the WPP and the corresponding first level of yield gap ( Ygap-I ) .
The Sys-productivity parametric index is used to derive the NPP and the related second level of yield gap ( Ygap-
II ). The third level of yield gap ( Ygap-III ), denoting the socio-economic yield gap, is approached using the concept
STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES of technical farming efficiency ( TFE ) with the stochastic frontier production function (SFPF).
The soil maps, providing the spatial extent of 50 soil units and three soil characteristics -texture, depth, stoninesswere digitised using the ARC/INFO to ArcView
® 7.1 and transferred
® 3.1 to constitute the core soil spatial information in the Meknès-LIS. A computerised digital terrain model of the region of Meknès (Meknès-DTM) has been created by from topographic maps (1:50,000) using
ARC/INFO ® 7.1. The developed Meknès-LIS has been linked to the models and employed to build a simple and comprehensive computerised DSS. The computer application of the Meknès-LUPDSS is developed using the
Visual Basic™ programming language to include 11 executable modules and 8 friendly-user interfaces by means of which the system can be operated and the obtained results displayed.
The Meknès-LUPDSS presents to the end-user two possibilities in carrying out the crop productivity assessment; a soil unit based and a map based assessment.
In the latter, the assessment is carried out on the soil map using the Meknès-LIS and the related digital maps. By means of a set of SQL and Avenue ® scripts, the digital maps are read into the Meknès-LUPDSS in a raster format of 1 ha resolution. The resulting spatial layers, relative to water and soil efficiency coefficients and water, natural and land production potentials, are saved back in the raster format within the ArcView ® environment for further display and/or analysis processes.
The assessment of the effect of some socio-economic factors on the TFIE has permitted to conclude that the most efficient farmers are of a better level of literacy and interacting with their institutional environment services either for contracting financial loans, acquiring production input factors or marketing their produces. It can be recommended that narrowing the Ygap-III s in the region of Meknès may be achieved through: 1) devising a global strategy by means of integrated development programs to promote the optimality in input use; 2) increasing the farmers' literacy by setting up appropriate education programs; and 3) minimising the farmers' risk aversion to drought and enhancing their input purchasing power.
On the basis of the developed crop production potentials and the related yield gaps' model, the Meknès-LUPDSS is devised. Its integrative aspect demonstrates the interesting capabilities that the end-user can acquire in operating LE and LUP in the region of Meknès. With this regard, the developed system is robust as it functions with the available data in the study area and provides, through its different components, interesting features in: 1) providing useful spatial information on land resources and crop characteristics; 2) profiling the land productivity by simulating crops' potentials and locating areas of land best suited to a particular crop; 3) simulating the effect of different technological packages such as different sowing dates, different varieties…; and 4) offering interesting prospects for crop yield forecasting and early warning
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STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES application. As far as land evaluation is concerned, the developed Meknès-LUPDSS fairly meets with the aims of this research and permits to get a significant result deemed to be a good starting point for initiating sustainability research and practices in the region of Meknès.
Dr. Le Van Khoa
Present function and address : Head of the Department of
Sciences, Campus 2, CTU, 3/2 street, Xuan Khanh,
Cantho city, Vietnam
Title of Ph.D. thesis : Physical fertility of typical
Mekong Delta Soils (Vietnam) and land suitability assessment for alternative crops with rice cultivation
Date of promotion : October 28, 2002
Promoter(s) : Prof. Dr. ir. H. Verplancke, Prof. Dr. E. Van
Ranst
Curriculum vitae :
Le Van Khoa was born on September 5, 1960 in Ben Tre,
Vietnam. He obtained his B.Sc. in Agronomy in October
1985 from Cantho University (CTU), Vietnam and was employed by Cantho University for working in the Soil
Mapping and Land Evaluation Section, Department of Soil
Science, Faculty of Agronomy, Cantho University. In
March 1989 he passed the international entrance examination of Wageningen Agricultural University
(WAU), The Netherlands and received a Dutch
Government fellowship for M.Sc. study on Soil and Water.
In July 1991 he graduated as M.Sc. on specialization of
Soil Survey and Land Evaluation from the Department of
Soil Science and Geology, WAU, The Netherlands, with a thesis subject of "Relationship between soil physical characteristics and morphology in Acid Sulphate clays of the Mekong delta, Vietnam". Since 1992 he became lecturer of the Section of Soil Physics, Soil Chemistry and
Soil Fertility, and head of Soil Physics working group of the Department of Soil Science and Land Management,
College of Agriculture, CTU. In March 1996, he was enrolled as a Ph.D student in the framework of the VLIR
E.I. - co-operation programme : "Training and research in programme for detailed and semi-detailed soil survey in the Mekong Delta and Immediate surroundings, Vietnam" between CTU and Gent University (RUG). During the study and working period at Cantho University, he participates in many local and abroad projects. Mr. Khoa was appointed as the general secretary of the VLIR-IUC programme with CTU (1998-2007), and head of the
Department of Sciences and Post-graduate Education in
CTU.
Abstract :
Most of the soils in the Mekong delta, Vietnam are formed and developed during the Holocene period. The first Viet people came to reclaim and exploit this plain at the beginning of the 17 th century. As a result, in the middle of the 19 th century, the Mekong delta had become the largest region of agricultural production, essentially rice produce for marketing purposes. Around 1980 three rice crops in a year were applied. That system continued to increase with time within the recent past 10 years. This land use system has mainly enlarged on the areas along Hau and Tien river.
Nowadays, in the Mekong delta, rice yield and production in the developing and well developed alluvial soil groups tend to be stable. However, there is a tendency to gradual decrease year to year, although chemical fertilizers and other amendments were intensively applied.
This study is carried out in order to conserve the natural land resources of the Mekong delta. The study focuses and evaluates mainly physical soil characteristics which are related to physical soil degradation of the selected major soil groups in the area of mono and intensive rice cultivation as Chau Thanh (Tra Vinh province), Vung
Liem (Vinh Long province), Cai Lay (Tien Giang province), Cao Lanh (Dong Thap province), Tan An
(Long An province), Phung Hiep (Cantho province), Vinh
Chau (Soc Trang province), O Mon (Cantho province),
Tinh Bien (An Giang province), and Moc Hoa (Long An province). A quantitative land evaluation is carried out for some alternative crops (soybean, mungbean, maize and cotton) in order to change and develop a new land utilization type for sustainable agricultural production.
Results show that soil compaction, the so-called "plow pan" has already existed between 20-40 cm soil depth and its thickness varies from 35-50 cm in the intensive rice cultivation area. Soil resistance penetration tends to increase from 40 cm to 100 cm in the soil profile and its values varies in the range of 0.8-1.2 Mpa. Infiltration rate is low in the topsoil (average 0.8 cm/hr) and very low in the subsoils. Surface hardsetting and subsoil plinthization exist in the Degraded Grey Soils and sodification is found in the area of saline intrusion.
Soil aggregate stability over 10 study locations is low and it is strongly influenced by soil organic matter and soil texture. The value of pF
2
-pF
2.5
is approximately representing the matric head at field capacity. The volumetric water content at wilting point is 0.05 cm 3 /cm 3 and 0.25 cm 3 /cm 3 for loamy sand and heavy clay textured soils respectively. About 62% of the cases, in rice intensive area, show a cumulative available soil water storage between 100-120 mm water at 0-50 cm soil depth, and it will be mainly lost by evaporation. Due to the intensive rice cultivation, local farmers usually irrigate the fields year around. In combination with a shallow low water table level (50-80 cm from soil surface) in the rice area, the soil water storage in the subsoils is not depleted to the wilting point even in the dry season and that happens on most of the study locations.
Muscovite is a dominant clay mineral in recent alluvial soils and kaolinite is a main soil mineral in old alluvial soils and soils derived from hard rock of the mountainous area. Soil compaction, soil hardsetting, plinthization, nutrient depletion, sodification and acidification (from oxidation of pyrite) are the main soil degradation types found in the different study locations. Soil compaction
- 18 -

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES tends to increase in the existing mono-rice cultivation and it is a main soil constraint influencing to the crop yield and soil productivity in future.
Soybean represents the best perspective crop to be alternated in the area of intensive rice cultivation and also suitable for the other areas of the study locations.
However, few soil constraints need to be reclaimed and improved, the crop yield can reach more than 2 tons/ha.
Cotton and maize can be planted in saline and alkaline soils. Organic matter, balanced mineral fertilization, soil preparation under the proper moisture condition and alternative land use application are the necessary activities to be done to conserve soil resources, to improve the rice yield and to develop a sustainable agricultural production in the Mekong delta.
Mr. Liming Ye
Scholarship : Ghent University
Subject : Web-based land evaluation system and sustainable population carrying capacity
Promoter : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst
Mr. Wu Huijun
Researcher, Soil and Fertilizers Institute, Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
From : February 26, 2002 till May 25, 2002
Fellowship : VLIR EI Project 13V33498
“Strengthening of the Soil and Water Conservation
Research at the Soils and Fertilizers Institute of CAAS”
Subject : Exploring field data with respect to soil and water conservation practices
Promoter : Prof. R. Hartmann & Prof. D. Gabriels
Ms. Ruiz Perez Maria Elena
Professor, Universidad Agraria de la Habana, Autopista
Nacional km 23, San José de las Lajas, Habana, Cuba
From : May 8, 2002 till May 21, 2002
Fellowship : VLIR-EI Project 479 “Improving soil salinity management under sugar cane using Geoinformatica
Subject : Exploring field data of the ongoing research project
Promoter : Prof. Dr. ir. M. Van Meirvenne & Prof. Dr. ir.
R. Hartmann
Mr. Diaz Suarez Jorge
Researcher, Universidad Agraria de la Habana, Autopista
Nacional km 23, San Jos Lajas, Habana, Cuba
From : March 4, 2002 till June 1, 2002
Fellowship : VLIR-EI Project 479 “Improving soil salinity management under sugar cane using Geoinformatica”
Subject : Mapping electrical conductivity on a regional scale using Geostatistics
Promoter : Prof. Dr. ir. M. Van Meirvenne & Prof. Dr. ir.
R. Hartmann
Mr. Medina Gonzalez Hanoi
Researcher, Universidad Agraria de la Habana, Autopista
Nacional km 23, San José de las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba
From : March 4, 2002 till June 1, 2002
Fellowship : VLIR-EI Project 479 “Improving soil salility management under sugar cane using Geoinformatica”
Subject : Regionalizing the soil water retention curve from basic soil data; its effect on the spatial variability
Of sugar cane field
Promoter : Prof. Dr. ir. M. Van Meirvenne & Prof. Dr. ir.
R. Hartmann
Mr. Vargas Rodriguez Heriberto
Researcher, Universidad Agraria de la Habana, Autopista
Nacional km 23, San José de las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba
From : March 4, 2002 till April 16, 2002
Fellowship : VLIR-EI Project 479 “Improving soil salility management under sugar cane using Geoinformatica”
Subject : Geostatistics
Promoter : Prof. Dr. ir. M. Van Meirvenne & Prof. Dr. ir.
R. Hartmann
- 19 -

PUBLICATIONS
SEIDLING, W., KLAP, J., VAN RANST, E. &
LANGOUCHE, D. 2001. Integrative studies on forest ecosystems conditions - Multivariate evaluations on tree crown condition for two areas with distinct deposition gradients, UN/ECE, EC and Flemish Community, Geneva,
Brussels and Gent, 88 p.
AGRICULTURAL USE OF LAND RESOURCES IN
RURAL CHINA, 2000-2003. International Co-operation project "CHINA'S AGENDA 21 - China's Agricultural
Education Network for Distance-learning Applications" between RUG (promoter : Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst in collaboration with Hogeschool Gent, ISRIC and FAO) and
"The Institute of Natural Resources and Regional
Planning, of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Beijing", "the Shaanxi Agricultural School,
Shaanxi and "The Sichuan Nanchong Agricultural School,
Sichuan" (Chinese promoter : Prof. Dr. Tang Huajun);
Flemish Community - Department Education.
- 20 -
THE EUROPEAN SOIL DATA BASE, European Soil
Bureau, JRC, European Commission, version 1.0, 1998.
The creation of the European Soil Database at
1:1,000,000 scale, is an important step in the provision of environmental data to the user community. The European
Soil Bureau , based at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra,
Italy, built up a network of soil scientists, from all over the continent, who readily invested considerable amounts of time and energy in compiling the database. For the first time, the soils of all the European countries, from West to
East, are described according to a common methodology and soil classification system. This facilitates the exchange of information and makes agro-technology transfer possible.
The soil map represented here is a particular thematic view of the Soil Geographical Data Base of Europe . It indicates the type of soil that dominates the mapping units, according to the nomenclature of FAO (1974). This terminology has been modified to accommodate specific soil conditions in Europe. The database is structured from
Soil Typological Units (STU) defined precisely by variables describing the nature and properties of soils : for example, texture, water regime, etc. These STU are grouped into Soil Mapping Units (SMU) which constitute associations of soils. The SMU are delineated at a scale of
1:1,000,000. The information about the soils is based on a data dictionary that contains the precise definition of each variable.
The Soil Geographical Data Base of Europe is complemented by a Soil Profile Analytical Data Base containing the data for the principal soil types found in the countries of Europe. A knowledge base in the form of
Pedotransfer Rules is also supplied for the estimation of variables not available directly from the geographic database : for example, organic matter content, bulk density, available water content. The quality of the information that is stored in the geographic database or that can be inferred from the pedotransfer rules is

expressed by in two ways. These give the purity of the
SMU, indicating the complexity of the soil associations that constitute it, and the confidence of the STU, giving an estimate of reliability of the data provided by the experts.
E. Van Ranst
ASEFA, T., BATELAAN, O., VAN CAMPENHOUT, A.,
DE SMEDT, F. 2000. Characterizing recharge/discharge areas of Grote-Nete (Belgium) using hydrological modeling, vegetation-mapping and GIS. In : Verhoest, N.E.C., Van
Herpe, Y.J.P. and De Troch, F.P. (eds.), Book of abstracts of
European Network of Experimental and Representative
Basins (ERB) Conference : Monitoring and Modeling
Catchment Water Quantity and Quality, Gent, Belgium, 27-
29 September, 2000, pp. 233-237.
ASEFA, T., WANG, Z., BATELAAN, O. & DE SMEDT, F.
1999. Open integration of a spatial water balance model and
GIS to study the response of a catchment. Proceedings of the
Nineteenth Annual American Geophysical Union Hydrology
Days, Ed. Morel-Seytoux, H.J., August 16-20, 1999,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado pp. 11-22.
BALA, A.E., BATELAAN, O. & DE SMEDT, F. 2000.
Appraisal of remote sensed natural resources around Dutsin
MA, Northwestern Nigeria. Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 7(4), pp. 2860-2869.
BALA, A.E., BATELAAN, O. & DE SMEDT, F. 2000.
Using Landsat 5 imagery in the assessment of groundwater resources in the crystalline rocks around Dutsin-Ma, northwestern Nigeria. Journal of Mining and Geology
(Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society), vol. 36(1), pp.
85-92.
BARAN, A., CAYCI, G., KUTUK, C. and HARTMANN,
R. 2001. Composted grape marc as growing medium for hypostases ( Hypostases phyllostagya ). Bioresource
Technology 78, 103 - 106.
BATELAAN O., DE SMEDT, F. & TRIEST, L. 2002, A methodology for mapping regional groundwater discharge dependent ecosystems. Schmitz, G.H. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Water Resources and Environment Research, Dresden, Germany, Volume
II, 22-25 July: 311-315.
BATELAAN, O. & DE SMEDT, F. 2001. "WetSpass : a flexible, GIS based distributed recharge methodology for regional groundwater modeling", Gehrels, H., Peters, J.,
Hoehn, E., Jensen, K., Leibundgut, C., Griffioen, J., Webb,
B. and Zaadnoordijk, W.J. (Eds.), Impact of Human Activity on Groundwater Dynamics, IAHS Publ. N° 269, pp. 11-17.
PUBLICATIONS
BATELAAN, O., ASEFA, T., VAN CAMPENHOUT, A.,
DE SMEDT, F. 2000. Studying impact of land-use changes on discharge and recharge areas. In : Verhoest, N.E.C., Van
Herpe, Y.J.P. and De Troch, F.P. (eds.), Book of abstracts of
European Network of Experimental and Representative
Basins (ERB) Conference : Monitoring and Modeling
Catchment Water Quantity and Quality, Gent, Belgium, 27-
29 September, 2000, pp. 215-218.
BATELAAN, O., ASEFA, T., VAN ROSSUM, P., DE
SMEDT, F. 2000. Groundwater flow modeling of three wetland ecosystems in river valleys in Flanders, Belgium. In :
Verhoest, N.E.C., Van Herpe, Y.J.P. and De Troch, F.P.
(eds.), Book of abstracts of European Network of
Experimental and Representative Basins (ERB). Conference :
Monitoring and Modeling Catchment Water Quantity and
Quality, Gent, Belgium, 27-29 September, 2000, pp. 239-
243.
BONIAO, R.D., SHAMSHUDDIN, J., VAN RANST, E.,
ZAUYAH, S. & SYED OMAR, S.R. 2002. Changes in chemical properties and growth of corn in volcanic soils treated with peat, ground basalt pyroclastics and calcium silicate. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 33:1219-1233.
BONIAO, R.D., SHAMSHUDDIN, J., VAN RANST, E.,
ZAUYAH, S. & SYED OMAR, S.R. 2002. Amelioration of soil fertility in variable-charge dominated soils. In : Soil
Science : Confronting New Realities in the 21 st Century.
Transactions 17 e World Congress of Soil Science (CD-
Rom), Bangkok, Thailand : 329, 1-9.
CAI, D., DE ROOCK, M., JIN, K., SCHIETTECATTE,
W., WU, H., GABRIELS, D., HARTMANN, R., and
CORNELIS, W. 2002. Nutrient Load in Runoff from
Small Plots: Laboratory and Field Rainfall Simulation
Tests on Chinese Loess Soils. In Proceedings 12 th
International Soil Conference May 26 – 31, 2002, Beijing,
China. Sustainable Utilization of Global Soil and Water
Resources. Process of Soil Erosion and its Environment
Effect, Volume II, Tsinghua University Press, 160-164.
COOLS, J., MEYUS, Y., BATELAAN, O. & DE
SMEDT, F. 2002. A large-scale hydrogeological database and groundwater model for Flanders: a tool for integrated groundwater management. J. A. Ramirez (ed.),
Proceedings of the Twenty Second Annual American
Geophysical Union Hydrology Days, Fort Collins,
Colorado: 46-55.
COOLS, J., MEYUS, Y., BATELAAN, O. & DE
SMEDT, F. 2002. Building databases in view of the largescale hydrogeological modeling of Flanders (N Belgium).
Proceedings of the first Geologica Belgica International
Meeting, Leuven, 11-15 September 2002. Aardk.
Mededel ., 2002, 12, 193-197.
CORNELIS, W., GABRIELS, D. and HARTMANN, R.
2002. A Physical-Conceptual Model to Predict the
- 21 -

PUBLICATIONS
Threshold Shear Velocity of Wet Sediment. In: Lee,
Jeffrey A. and Zobeck, Ted M., Proceedings
ICAR5/GCTE-SEN Joint Conference, International Center for Arid and Semiarid Lands Studies, TEXAS University,
Lubbock, Texas, USA. Publication 02-2, 18-22.
CORNELIS, W., RONSYN, J., VAN MEIRVENNE, M.
and HARTMANN, R 2001. Evaluation of Pedotransfer
Functions for Predicting the Soil Moisture Retention
Curve. Soils Sci. Soc. Am. J. Vol. 65, no 3, 638 – 648
CORNELIS, W., WU, H., LU, J., YAO, Y., WANG, X.,
HARTMANN, R., GABRIELS, D., CAI, D., JIN, K., BAI,
Z., WANG, Y. and SCHIETTECATTE, W. 2002. The
Water Balance as Affected by Conservation and
Conventional Tillage Practices on Slope Fields in the
Drylands of North China. In Proceedings 12 th International
Soil Conference May 26 – 31, 2002, Beijing, China.
Sustainable Utilization of Global Soil and Water
Resources. Process of Soil Erosion and its Environment
Effect, Volume II, Tsinghua University Press, 638-643.
DE SMEDT, F. & BATELAAN, O. 2001. The impact of land-use changes on the groundwater in the Grote Nete river basin, Belgium. 3 rd International Conference on "Future
Groundwater Resources at Risk", Lisbon, Portugal, June 25-
27, 2001 : 151-158.
DE SMEDT, F., YONGBO, L. & GEBREMESKEL, S.
2000. Hydrologic modeling on catchment scale using GIS and remote sensed land use information. C.A. Brebbia (ed.),
Risk Analyses II, WIT press, Southampton, Boston : 295-
304.
DE SMEDT, F., YONGBO, L. & GEBREMESKEL, S.
2000. Integrated hydrologic modeling on a catchment scale for prediction of floods. Hoeben, R., Van Herpe, Y. and De
Troch F.P. (ed.), ERB 2000 Proceedings, September 27-29,
2000, Gent, Belgium : 11 pp.
DE VLEESCHAUWER, C. & DE SMEDT, F. 2002.
Modeling slope stability using GIS on a regional scale.
Proceedings of the first Geologica Belgica International
Meeting, Leuven, 11-15 September 2002. Aardk.
Mededel ., 2002, 12, 253-256.
FEYEN L., DESSALEGN, M., DE SMEDT, F.,
BATELAAN, O. & GEBREMESKEL, S. 2002. Stochastic determination of the wellhead protection area for the well field ‘Het Rot’ (Belgium). Proceedings of the first
Geologica Belgica International Meeting, Leuven, 11-15
September 2002. Aardk. Mededel ., 2002, 12, 199-202.
FEYEN, J., DE SMEDT, F., RAES, D. & BATELAAN, O.
2000. IUPWARE : a case study of interdisciplinary education and training. Proceedings of the International Symposium
"The Learning Society and the Water-Environment", Paris.
June 2-4, 1999. Pp. 179-186. Eds. Van der Beken, A.,
Milhailescu, M., Hubert, P. and Bogardi, J., European
Commission.
FEYEN, L., BEVEN, K.J., DE SMEDT, F. & FREER, J.
2001. Stochastic capture zone delineation with the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation methodology :
Conditioning on head observation. Water Resources
Research, Vol. 37, n° 3 : 625-638.
FEYEN, L., RIBEIRO, P.J., DE SMEDT, F. & DIGGLE,
P.J. 2001. Stochastic determination of well capture zones using a Bayesian approach. H.S. Seo, E. Poeter, C. Zheng and O. Poeter (eds.), MODFLOW 2001 and other Modeling
Odysseys - Conference Proceedings, International ground
Water Modeling Centre, Colorado School of Mines, and U.S.
Geological Survey : 298-304.
FEYEN, L., RIBEIRO, P.J., DE SMEDT, F. & DIGGLE,
P.J. 2002. Bayesian methodology to stochastic capture zone determination: conditioning on transmissivity measurements. Water Resources Research, 38(9): 3.1-
3.10.
FEYEN, L., RIBEIRO, P.J., GÓMEZ-HERNÁNDEZ, J.J.,
BEVEN, K.J. & DE SMEDT, F., 2002. The worth of transmissivity and head data in the prediction of well capture zones. Proceedings of the 4 th Conference on
Calibration and Reliability in groundwater Modeling,
Model CARE 2002, Praag, 17-20 June 2002, Acta
Universitatis Carolinae Geologica 2002 , 46 (2/3): 477-
480.
FIANTIS, D., VAN RANST, E., SHAMSHUDDIN, J.,
FAUZIAH, J. & ZAUYAH, S. 2002. Influence of silicate application on P sorption and charge characteristics of
Andisols from West Sumatra, Indonesia. In : Soil Science :
Confronting New Realities in the 21 st Century.
Transactions 17 e World Congress of Soil Science (CD-
Rom), Bangkok, Thailand : 244, 1-11.
FIANTIS, D., VAN RANST, E., SHAMSHUDDIN, J.,
FAUZIAH, J. & ZAUYAH, S. 2002. Effect of calcium silicate and superphosphate application on surface charge properties of volcanic soils from West Sumatra, Indonesia.
In : Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. : 33:1887-1900.
GEBREMESKEL S., LIU, Y., DE SMEDT, F. & L.
PFISTER, 2002. GIS based distributed modeling for flood simulation. J. A. Ramirez (ed.), Proceedings of the Twenty
Second Annual American Geophysical Union Hydrology
Days, Fort Collins, Colorado: 98-109.
HUYGENS, M., OKRUSZKO, T., BATELAAN, O.,
VERHOEVEN, R., CHORMANSKI, J., VAN ROSSUM, P.,
VAN POUCKE, L., MIROSLAW-SWIATEK, D.,
KARDEL, I., MUCKA, A., MEYUS, Y., VAN
CAMPENHOUT, A., DE SMEDT, F. 2000. Field monitoring in upper catchment of Biebrza wetlands. In :
Verhoest, N.E.C., Van Herpe, Y.J.P. and De Troch, F.P.
(eds.), Book of abstracts of European Network of
Experimental and Representative Basins (ERB) Conference :
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Quality, Gent, Belgium, 27-29 September, 2000, pp. 263-
266.
IMERZOUKENE, S. & VAN RANST, E. 2001. Une banque de données pédologiques et son S.I.G. pour une nouvelle politique agricole au Rwanda. Meded. Zitt. K.
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KHALIL, M.I. & VAN CLEEMPUT. O. 1998. Nitrogen transformations in three Malaysian acid soils under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Proc. Soil Sci. Conf. Malaysia held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 21 to 22 April 1998. pp 35-
36. Malaysian Society of Soil Science, Malaysia.
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT,
O., FAUZIAH, C.I. & SHAMSHUDDIN, J. 2002. Nitrous oxide emission from a maize-groundnut crop rotation supplied with different nitrogen sources in the humid tropics. J. Environ. Qual. 31: 1071-1078.
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT,
O., SHAMSHUDDIN, J. & FAUZIAH, C.J. 2002. Nitrous oxide production from an ultisol treated with different nitrogen sources and moisture regimes. Biol. Fertil. Soils.
36: 59-65.
KHALIL, M.I., BOECKX, P., ROSENANI, A.B. & VAN
CLEEMPUT, O. 2001. Nitrogen transformations and emission of greenhouse gases from three acid soils of humid tropics amended with N sources and moisture regimes. II.
N
2
O and CH
2909-2924.
4
fluxes. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal.32:
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT, O.,
FAUZIAH, C.I. & SHAMSHUDDIN, J. 1999. Nitrous oxide emissions from a Malaysian ultisol applied with different nitrogenous fertilizers. Proc. Soil Sci. Conf. Of Malaysia held in Seremban, Malaysia from 20 to 21 April 1999 (eds.)
S. Zauyah, A.B. Rosenani & H.M. Saud), pp 130-139.
Malaysian Society of Soil Science, Malaysia.
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT,
O., FAUZIAH, C.I. & SHAMSHUDDIN, J. 2000.
Nitrous oxide emissions from a sustainable land management system in the humid tropics Proc. Int.
Symposium on "Sustainable Land Management Systems:
Paradigms for the New Millennium held from 8 to 10
August 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (eds. J.
Shamshuddin, J. Hamadan & A.W. Samsuri), pp 470-477,
Malaysian Society of Soil Science, Malaysia.
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT, O.,
FAUZIAH, C.I. & SHAMSHUDDIN, J. 2000. Nitrous oxide emissions during the maize growth and succeeding fallow period in a Malaysian Ultisol. Proc. of the Soil Science
Conference of Malaysia held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from
18 to 20 April 2000.,pp 173-174. Malaysian Society of Soil
Science, Malaysia.
PUBLICATIONS
KHALIL, M.I., ROSENANI, A.B., VAN CLEEMPUT,
O., FAUZIAH, C.I. & SHAMSHUDDIN, J. 2001.
Nitrogen management in a maize-groundnut crop rotation of Humid tropics: Effect on N
2
O emission. In: Optimizing
Nitrogen Management in Food and Energy Production and
Environmental Protection. Proceedings of the 2 nd
International Nitrogen Conference on Science and Policy.
The Scientific World 1(S2): 320-327.
KHALIL, M.I., VAN CLEEMPUT, O., BOECKX, O. &
ROSENANI, A.B. 2001. Nitrogen transformations and emission of greenhouse gases from three acid soils of humid tropics amended with N sources and moisture regimes. I. N transformations. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal.32: 2893-
2907.
LIU, Y., GEBREMESKEL, S., DE SMEDT, F. &
PFISTER, L. 2002. Flood prediction with the WetSpa model on catchment scale. Wu et al. (eds), Flood Defence
‘2002, Science Press, New-York: 499-507.
MAINAM, F., ZINCK, J.A. & VAN RANST, E. 2002.
Modelling interrill soil erosion in the semiarid zone of
Cameroon. In : Soil Science : Confronting New Realities in the 21 st Century. Transactions 17 e World Congress of
Soil Science (CD-Rom), Bangkok, Thailand : 37, 1-9.
MANFREDA, S., FIORENTINO, M. & DE SMEDT, F.
2001. An investigation on flood generation mechanisms by coupling distributed models at different time scales.
Mediterranean Storms, Proceedings of the 3 rd EGS Plinius
Conference held at Baja, Sardinia, Italy, October 2001 : 4 pp.
MEYUS, Y., DE SMET, D., DE SMEDT, F.,
WALRAEVENS, K., BATELAAN, O. & VAN CAMP, M.
2000. Hydrogeological coding of the subsurface of Flanders
(HCOV) (in Dutch). @WEL8 - Water, pp. 1-13.
NEIRYNCK, J., VAN RANST, E., ROSKAMS, P. &
LUST, N. 2002. Impact of decreasing throughfall depositions on soil solution chemistry at coniferous monitoring sites in northern Belgium. Forest Ecology &
Management, 160:127-142.
OZTURK, H. & HARTMANN, R. 2002. Monitoring the
Soil Water Content using Time Domain Reflectometry in a
Clay Loam and an Organic Soil. Journal of Agricultural
Science. Tarim Bilimleri Dergisi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Ankara
University. Volume 8, number 2, 122-127.
PRATUMMINTRA, S., VAN RANST, E.,
VERPLANCKE, H., KUNGPHISDARN, N. &
KESAWAPITUK, P. 2002. GIS and hevea growth model for production potential map on land quality in Chantha
Buri Province, Thailand. In : Soil Science : Confronting
New Realities in the 21 st Century. Transactions 17 e World
Congress of Soil Science (CD-Rom), Bangkok, Thailand :
665, 1-8.
- 23 -

PUBLICATIONS
PRATUMMINTRA, S., VAN RANST, E.,
VERPLANCKE, H., SHAMSHUDDIN, J.,
THEERAVATANASUK, K. & KESAWAPITUK, P.
2002. Quantifying parameters for the maximum rubber production potential model in East Thailand. In : Soil
Science : Confronting New Realities in the 21
Transactions 17 e st Century.
World Congress of Soil Science (CD-
Rom), Bangkok, Thailand : 664, 1-17.
SBAI, M.A. & DE SMEDT, F. 2000. GEO_SWIM : A three dimensional finite element system for modeling groundwater and saltwater intrusion - Software development and visualisation tools. SWIMCA - Salt Water Intrusion
Management in Coastal Aquifers, Walraevens, K. (ed.) AVI-
CT95-73:301-312.
SBAI, M.A., DE SMEDT, F. & LARABI, A. 2001. A generalized approach for modeling 3D transient free and moving boundaries in coastal aquifers. First International
Conference on Salt Water Intrusion and Coastal Aquifers -
Monitoring, Modeling and Management. Essaouira,
Morocco, April 23-25, 2001 : 10 pp.
SCHIETTECATTE, W., VERBIST, K., JIN, K.,
GABRIELS, D., HARTMANN, R., CAI, D. and
CORNELIS, W. 2002. Sediment Load in Runoff from
Small Plots: Laboratory and Field Rainfall Simulation
Tests on Chinese Loess Soils. In Proceedings 12 th
International Soil Conference May 26 – 31, 2002, Beijing,
China. Sustainable Utilization of Global Soil and Water
Resources. Process of Soil Erosion and its Environment
Effect, Volume II, Tsinghua University Press, 155-159.
TAM, V.T., VU, T.M.N., BATELAAN, O. 2001.
Hydrogeological characteristics of a karst mountainous catchment in the Northwest of Vietnam. Acta Geologica
Sinica (English edition), Journal of the Geological Society of
China, Vol. 75, n° 3, pp. 260-268.
TANG, H. & VAN RANST, E. 2001. Sustainable agricultural development, land use change and food security in China. Meded. Zitt. K. Acad. Overzeese Wet.,
47:285-297.
TANG, H., QIU, J., VAN RANST, E. & LI, C. 2002.
Model estimates of soil organic carbon storage in agricultural land in China. In : Soil Science : Confronting
New Realities in the 21 st Century. Transactions 17 e World
Congress of Soil Science (CD-Rom), Bangkok, Thailand :
1550, 1-9.
VAN PRAAG, H.J., DE SMEDT, F., VU THANH, T. 2000.
Simulation of calcium leaching and desorption in an acid forest soil. European Journal of Soil Science, 5:245-255.
VAN RANST, E. & DE CONINCK, F. 2002. Evaluation of ferrolysis in soil formation. European Journal of Soil
Science, 53:513-519.
VAN RANST, E. & DE CONINCK, F. 2002. Synthesis of
HNO
3
out of organic matter and its influence on weathering. In : Soil Science : Confronting New Realities in the 21 st Century. Transactions 17 e World Congress of
Soil Science (CD-Rom), Bangkok, Thailand : 285, 1-10.
VAN RANST, E., DE CONINCK, F., ROSKAMS, P. &
VINDEVOGEL, N. 2002. Acid-neutralizing capacity of forest floor and mineral topsoil in Flemish forests (North
Belgium). Forest Ecology and Management, 166:45-53.
VAN RANST, E., IMERZOUKENE, S. & VERDOODT,
A. 2002. The digital land resources inventory of Rwanda and its applications. In : Soil Science : Confronting New
Realities in the 21 st Century. Transactions 17 e World
Congress of Soil Science (CD-Rom), Bangkok, Thailand :
255, 1-7.
VAN ROMPAEY, K., VAN RANST, E., DE CONINCK,
F. & VINDEVOGEL, N. 2002. Dissolution characteristics of hectorite in inorganic acids. Applied Clay Science, 21 :
241-256.
VERBEIREN, B., BATELAAN, O. & DE SMEDT, F.
2002. Development of a Groundwater Model for some
Small Sub-Catchments of the Dender Basin. Proceedings of the first Geologica Belgica International Meeting,
Leuven, 11-15 September 2002. Aardk. Mededel ., 2002,
12, 207-210.
YE, L. & VAN RANST, E. 2002. Population carrying capacity and sustainable agricultural use of land resources in Caoxian County (N. China). Journal of Sustainable
Agriculture, 19(4):75-94.
- 24 -

DICTIONNAIRE DE SCIENCE DU SOL
Jean Lozet and Clément Mathieu, 4 th edition, 2002. Tec &
Doc, Lavoisier, Paris. 575 pp, ISBN 2-7430-0538-6.
85 Euro.
This dictionary covers more than 4,000 terms used in soil science, ranging from mineralogy to geomorphology.
Special attention is given to the terminology of several classification systems, including FAO, Soil Taxonomy and
WRB, but also terms of soil chemistry, mineralogy, micromorphology and physics are clearly explained. Each term is defined, and related to other terms by several cross references. The gender (in French) and the English translation are indicated, and often even the etymology.
The English - French index makes it a useful tool for translations. The text is illustrated with well selected tables, schemes and photographs (including colour pictures of some profiles). The illustration and explanation of several instruments seems very useful. At the end of the book short biographies of 81 illustrious soil scientist are given, with some preference for French and Belgian scientists. An annex, illustrating the subdivision of several classification systems (e.g. FAO, Soil Taxonomy, WRB,
French, German and Russian systems) and a comparative table of different horizon designations contributes to the practical usefulness of the book. This dictionary will show to be a time saving item, not only for native French speaking soil scientists, geologists and environmentalist, but also for all others that understand this language.
G. Stoops
GUIDELINES FOR ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION
OF SOIL AND REGOLITH THIN SECTIONS
Georges Stoops. Soil Science Society of America,
Madison, 2003. Hardbound, 184 pp + CD. ISBN 0-
89118-842-8. Price: 50 US $ (40 US $ members of SSSA).
Order and information: books@agronomy.org
This manual is largely based on the “Handbook for Soil
Thin Section Descriptions” by Bullock et al., published in
1985 and out of print since about ten years. The new book has to be considered as an extended and updated edition of this formed Handbook.
Contents :
1.
Introduction
2.
Definition and Historical Review
3.
Aspects of Thin Section Studies
4.
Elements of Fabric
5.
Aggregates, Voids and Microstructure
6.
Mineral and Organic Constituents
7.
Groundmass
PUBLICATIONS
8.
Pedofeatures
9.
Thin Section Description
10.
References
Appendixes and Subject Index
There are some differences with the “Handbook”. Keys are given for the identification of voids, microstructures, b-fabrics, c/f related distributions, pedofeatures, etc.
Therefore some definitions were modified. The c/f related distributions have been extended, and subdivisions are added to crystals and crystal intergrowths. Wherever possible, parallels and differences with other systems (e.g.
Kubiëna, Brewer and the Russian terminology) are explained. In Chapter 3 the problems of interpretation of two dimensional images of thin sections in a three dimensional context are treated, and the use of special observation techniques, such as oblique incident light, fluorescence microscopy, cathodoluminescence microscopy, selective extraction of components from thin sections and staining techniques are explained. In Chapter
9 examples of description schemes are given and artefacts resulting from thin section preparation shortly discussed and illustrated. All concepts are illustrated by line drawings in the text, and 350 colour slides on a CD-ROM.
G. Stoops
Sustainable Land Management - Environmental
Protection. A soil Physical Approach
Marcello Pagliai and Robert Jones (Editors)
588 pages
Advances in GeoEcology 35
ISBN 3-9223381-48-4
This publication contains the contents of the International
Conference on Sustainable Management for
Environmental Protection-Soil Physical Aspects, and has the following chapters :
I. Introductory Papers; II. Soil Structure. III. Soil
Hydrology. IV. Soil Compaction; V. Soil Erosion; VI.
Models, Databases and Maps
Catena verlag GMBH, GeoScience Publisher
Armelgasse 11
D-35447 Reiskirchen, Germany
E-mail : catenaverlag@aol.com
R. Hartmann
- 25 -

PROJECT PROFILES
2002-2007
Project collaborators: Belgian Promoter : Prof. Dr. E. VAN RANST.
Belgian co-promoters : Prof. Dr. ir. H. VERPLANCKE and Prof. Dr. R.
GOOSSENS of the Ghent University, and Prof. Dr. G. BAERT, Prof. Dr.
ir. L. KIEKENS and Prof. Dr. M. JANSSENS of the Hogeschool Gent.
The promoters in the D.R. of Congo are Prof. Dr. ir. P. MAFUKA
(UNIKIN) and Prof. Dr. ir. M. NGONGO (UNILU). Co-promoters at the
UNIKIN are Prof. Dr. P. KANYAKONGOTE and Prof. Dr. ir. R.
LUMBUENAMO. Prof. Dr. ir. M. NGONGO and Prof. Dr. P.
KANYAKONGOTE are alumni of the former 'ITC for Post-graduate
Studies in Soil Science' at the Ghent University.
Funded by VLIR and DGOS
The Laboratory of Soil Science - Ghent University (Prof.
Dr. E. Van Ranst) has over the past 2 years developed an intense collaboration with the Departments of Soil Science of the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) and the
University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), both located in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
The collaboration with Congo started beginning 2000, with the approval of a small VLIR project entitled
'Establishment of a scientific exchange network between the Soil Science Laboratory of the Ghent University and its counterpart at the Universities of Kinshasa and
Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo'. This project was one of 10 VLIR Networks between Flemish universities and universities in the D.R. Congo, aiming at re-launching the Flemish University Co-operation with
Congo after a long absence and complete scientific isolation during a period of 10 years. Priority was then given to the universities of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) and of
Kisangani (UNIKIS).
The objective of the project, which ended December 2002, was to strengthen training, research and education together with technical infrastructure (fully equipped GIS laboratories) of the Soil Science Department at the
UNIKIN (see also Pedon 12). Part of the infrastructure at
Kinshasa was financed by UNESCO. During the project, soil and land suitability maps of the Lower-Congo and
Kinshasa were digitized, and climatic and soil survey data were digitally stored in a database.
The success of this project and the good collaboration with the UNIKIN and UNILU has resulted in the introduction and approval of several other VLIR projects:
• ‘Valorisation of the available data on 'physical natural resources' of the D.R. of Congo for a rational and sustainable management of the land’ .
This (5 year) project comprises (1) the elaboration of the comprehensive database of spatial (maps) and numerical data on soils, vegetation, land use and climate of the whole country; (2) assistance in the university education and curriculum development in soil science, remote sensing and tropical agriculture; and (3) research in above domains by PhD students of the UNIKIN and UNILU. The Department of Soil
Science of the UNILU has also been fully equipped for GIS applications. Also software for teledetection has been installed at both universities;
• ‘Rehabilitation of the Laboratory of Soil Science of the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), D.R. of
Congo’ . This comprises the installation of laboratory equipment, chemicals and glassware, for practical exercises and research at the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Sciences of the UNIKIN;
'Strengthening of the project 'Establishment of a scientific exchange network between the Soil
Science Laboratory of the Ghent University and its counterpart at the Universities of Kinshasa and
Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of
Congo' . This (1 year) project mainly finances teaching activities in agriculture at the UNILU by guest professors of the UNIKIN.
Inauguration of the project ‘Valorisation of the available data on 'physical natural resources' of the D.R. of Congo for a rational and sustainable management of the land’ at the UNILU. Belgians (from left to right: Prof.
Dr. G. Baert and Ing. F. Debersaques (Hogeschool Gent), Mr. D.
Verheyen (Belgian Consul-General at Lubumbashi) and G. Deprez and
M. Matthys (students of Hogeschool Gent). Congolese: Prof. Dr. ir. M.
Ngongo (6 th from left) and Prof. Dr. Kakoma Sakatolo Zambeze, Rector
UNILU (8 th from left).
- 26 -

PROJECT PROFILES
Experimental farm of the University of Kinshasa. From left to right: PhD student ir. : B. Msombo Mosombo (UNIKIN), Prof. Dr. R. Goossens
(RUG), Prof. Dr. G. Baert (Hogeschool Gent), Prof. Dr. ir. P. Mafuka
(UNIKIN)
UNIKIN. Prof. Dr. G. Baert (3 nd from left), Prof. Dr. ir. M. Ngongo (4 th from left), Prof. Dr. R. Goossens (center) and Porf. Dr. ir. P. Mafuka (1 st from right). Other people are students in agriculture at UNIKIN.
E. Van Ranst & G. Baert
2002-2005
Project collaborators: Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst. In collaboration with :
Joanneum Research (Austria), European Forest Institute (Finland), EC-
Joint Research Centre (Italy), Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research
(Czech Republic), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
(Germany), Hungarian Forest Research Institute (Hungary), Federal
Forest Research Centre (Austria), Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences (Sweden), Dresden University of Technology (Germany), Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (Spain) and
University of Padua (Italy)
Funded by European Commission Research Directorates, General
Shared Cost RTD
Objectives
The overall objective is to identify, develop and provide methodologies and information that will facilitate assessment of carbon stocks and stock changes in forests at national and European level, for the purposes of the
UNFCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The specific objectives are : 1) To establish a set of reliable biomass expansion factors for the major European forest types, to be used to expand from inventory volume estimates to carbon content of trees components and to estimate the reliability of such estimates. 2) To develop a methodology for soil carbon assessment to be combined with forest inventories over large spatial scales. 3) To develop multi-source inventory methods for assessing carbon stocks and stock change in all relevant carbon pools, and the regional distribution of stocks and stock changes, including uncertainties of these parameters. 4) To apply these methods in test sites and suggest upscaling methods to the national level (full national inventories and inventories according Kyoto
Protocol rules). 5) To improve a European Forest
Resource Database through new soils and biomass data and calculate/improve country level carbon inventories, with a major focus on uncertainty assessment.
Description of work
CARBO-INVENT set up an operational system to quantify carbon stocks and stock changes at national scales to meet the commitments taken in the Kyoto protocol and the UNFCCC. To achieve this goal, four cornerstones are identified. 1) Carbon inventories of above- and belowground biomass : existing information related to biomass allocation of different tree species by regions will be identified, updated and refined. A database of biomass expansion factors (BEF) default values will be developed using existing and new measurements. The project will suggest procedures for harmonization of sample based assessments, their methods and spatial and of temporal resolutions. 2) Carbon inventories of soils and litter pools : a map of forest soils will be generated from the European
Soil Reference Base. Soil surveys will be integrated with national forest inventory data. Default values for soil carbon as model input and as pedotransfer variables will be estimated. 3) Integration of multi-source inventory data.
Test sites will be used to integrate BEF estimates with soil carbon. UNFCCC/COP decisions on forestry in the Kyoto
Protocol will be evaluated regarding resultant data needs, and Kyoto carbon budgets will be derived. Currently applied remote sensing methods will be assessed and integrated with forest inventory data. Improved national and regional estimates of the carbon stock and stock change in biomass and soil of European forests will be produced. The robustness and cost effectiveness of such estimates assessed. Ultimately this integration of multisource inventory data will result in the design of a
"national system" for monitoring emissions and removals
- 27 -

PROJECT PROFILES of carbon, as required under the Kyoto Protocol by 2007.
4) Carbon sequestration in the forests : all methods will re rigorously tested at representative boreal, continental, oceanic, alpine and Mediterranean test sites. Special attention will be paid on accuracy assessment and error propagation. Criteria of good practice in reporting to landuse, land use change and forestry will finally be derived.
In a further step, CARBO-INVENT will be expanded for calculating the carbon benefits of different forest management strategies and to evaluate the impact of disturbance regimes on carbon stocks in forests.
Milestones and expected results
1) Improved regional and national level estimates of the carbon stock and stock change of tree biomass and soil in
Europe. 2) Evaluated and harmonized multi-source inventory procedures for calculating such stocks and stock changes. 3) Full and "Kyoto" carbon budgets for the test sites. 4) European contribution to the IPCC work on Good
Practice Guidance in LULUCF inventory work. 5)
Monitoring standard for detecting carbon sources after major disturbances. 6) Calculated net carbon benefits of different forest management strategies.
E. Van Ranst
Somjate Pratummintra ( Rubber Research
Institute, Department of Agriculture,
Thailand): Dynamic approach in Predicting
Land Production Potential for Rubber: A case Study in East and Northeast Thailand
Promoters : Prof. Dr. J. Shamshuddin,
Prof. Dr. E. Van Ranst, Prof. Dr. ir. H.
Verplancke
Dian Fiantis (Universitas Andalas Padang,
Sumatra, Indonesia): Colloid Surface
Characteristics and Amelioration Problems of Volcanic Soils In West Sumatra,
Indonesia
Promoters : Prof. Dr. J. Shamshuddin, Prof.
Dr. E. Van Ranst
Renato Boniao (College of Agriculture,
Mindanao State University, Philippines):
Amelioration of Volcanic Soils from
Camiguin Island (Southern Philippines) using Natural Amendments
Promoters : Prof. Dr. J. Shamshuddin, Prof.
Dr. E. Van Ranst
Bambang Djadmo Kertonegoro (Faculty of Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia): Marling a Regosol of Central Java and its Effect on Maize Crop
Performance
Promoters : Prof. Dr. Wan Sulaiman Wan
Harun, Prof. Dr. ir. H. Verplancke, Prof. Dr.
E. Van Ranst
1994-2002
Project collaborators: Prof. Dr. G. Stoops (coordinator of ITC-Gent) and
Prof. Dr. J. Shamshuddin (coordinator UPM)
Funded by BADC through the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR)
During the last academic year of the project, jointly organised by ITC-Gent and the Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM), Mr. Ahmed Fauzi (Bogor, Indonesia) finalised his
PhD research and defended his thesis (Viva Voce) on 13 th of April 2002 at UPM. The study entitled “ Pedogenesis and Classification of Soils in Banten, West Java, Indonesia ” was made under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Siti Zauyah Darus
(UPM), promoter, and Prof. Dr. G. Stoops (RUG), copromoter.
As such, the programme was finalised successfully. Its output can be summarised as follows :
4 students obtained their M.Sc. in Soil Science in Gent : Ms.
Sri Nuryani (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Mr. Bambang
Kertonegoro, Mr. Renato Boniao and Mr. Ibrahim Khalil
6 students obtained their Ph.D. degree at UPM under the direction of a local promoter, assisted by a RUG-promoter :
Ibrahim Khalil (Bangladesh Institute of
Nuclear Agriculture): Nitrous oxide emission from an upland cropping system in the humid tropics
Promoters : Dr. Che Fauziah Ishak, Prof. Dr.
O. Van Cleemput
Ahmed Fauzi (Centre for Soil and
Agroclimate Research, Bogor, Indonesia):
Pedogenesis and Classification of Soils in
Banten, West Java, Indonesia
Promoters : Dr. Siti Zauyah Darus, Prof.
Dr. G. Stoops
- 28 -

PROJECT PROFILES
During the program the students published in total 57 papers and abstracts, and made a similar number of oral presentations at national and international symposia, conferences and congresses.
The intensive exchange of information between RUG and
UPM was profitable for the staff members and laboratories of both universities.
During the Bangkok congress several involved staff members and students met again, as shown on the picture
(see under "Communictations Received").
G. Stoops
More in formation on the project, and partial databases, can be consulted on following Website: http://www.rala.is/andosol.
G. Stoops
The aim of the COST 622 action (Soil Resources of
European Volcanic Systems) is to come to a better characterisation and understanding of the volcanic ash soils of Europe. Volcanic material in Europe is not restricted to the present well-known volcanic areas, such as the Canaries, the Azores, Iceland, the Greek Islands, the
Vesuvius and the Etna in Italy, the Massif Central in
France or the Eifel in Germany, but is found also in areas of Tertiary volcanism such as Hungary, Slovakia, etc.
In 2001 Prof. Dr. G. Stoops was appointed as a Belgian
Delegate and member of the Management Committee, especially in view of the micromorphological studies. One working group sampled representative profiles in the different regions. Other groups work on physical, chemical or mineralogical properties of these profiles, the problems of polluant binding and sustainable land use. During meetings of the working groups in different countries results are compared, integrated and discussed, and local soils visited. The last meetings took place on the Azores
(September 2001), the Eifel in Germany (April 2002) and
Hungary (September 2002), where the finest soils for viticulture occur in volcanic areas. A next meeting is planned early March 2003 in Bratislava (Slovakia) devoted to the micromorphological aspects of the reference profiles. The final meeting will be organised in
Iceland, end of June 2003.
In the frame of the micromorphological study of some representative profiles two scientists visited the Laboratory for Mineralogy, Petrology and Micropedology of the
Ghent University: Ms O. Feher (Gödöllö, Hungary, from 9 till 13 December, 2002), and Dr. M. Gérard (IRD, former
ORSTOM, Paris, from 17 till 20 December, 2002).
The administrative EC-Secretary of the Project is Mr. Emil
Fulajtar, ITC alumnus (MSc. 1993).
- 29 -

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED
On December 24, 2002, Ms. Mangala Rajendra
Ghandahadur (M.Sc.-Ghent, 1997) obtained a Ph.D.
degree in Agriculture from Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh
Krishi Vidyapeeth (Agricultural University), with First
Class with Distrinctions. Dr. Ghanbahadur specialised in
Soil and Water Management.
Stoops, Prof. O. Van Cleemput, Prof. M. Vanmeirvenne,
Ir. K. Van Rompaey and ir. A. Verdoodt, Dr. ir. P.
Boeckx, Dr. ir. S. De Neve.
Following alumni were spotted : Ms. Ananda Boona
(Thailand) (M.Sc. ITC : 1978), Dr. R. Boniao
(Philippines) (M.Sc. ITC : 1996, Ph.D. ITC-UPM : 2000),
Dr. H. Eswaran (Malaysia, USA) (M.Sc. ITC : 1967,
Ph.D. ITC : 1970), Prof. A. Farshad (Iran, The
Netherlands) (M.Sc. ITC : 1975, Ph.D. ITC : 1997), Dr. D.
Fiantis (Indonesia) (M.Sc. ITC : 1995, Ph.D. ITC-UPM :
2000), Ms. Kamolrat Iampornrat (Thailand) (M.Sc. ITC :
1987), Dr. M. Jamagne (Belgium, France) (M.Sc. ITC :
1966), Dr. F. Nachtergaele (Belgium, FAO) (M.Sc. ITC :
1973), Dr. S. Pratummintra (Thailand) (M.Sc. ITC : 1994,
Ph.D. ITC-UPM : 2000), Prof. J. Shamshuddin (Malaysia)
(Ph.D. ITC : 1982), Dr. H. Tang (China) (M.Sc. ITC :
1987, Ph.D. ITC : 1993), Ms. Vanida Chutatis (M.Sc. ITC
: 1984) (Thailand).
During the Academic Year 1990-1991, on the occasion of the first promotion of the Master of Science Programme in
Eremology (desert science), a prize was founded by the family De Boodt-Maselis to award yearly the most outstanding graduate student of the M.Sc. programme in
Eremology. Since 1998-1999, this prize is awarded to the most outstanding student of the M.Sc. programme, who's thesis contributed to the studies of Physial Land
Resources. The prize consists of a sum of 1,000 € and a certificate.
Last year the prize has been awarded to Mr. Jin Ke , born on December 11, 1971 at Shandong, China, because of his outstanding scholarly prestations during his study period
2000-2002. He was presented the certificate by Prof. Em.
M. De Boodt on the occasion of the formal proclamation of the graduates from the Faculty of Agricultural and
Applied Biological Sciences, having headship over the
International Centre for Eremology.
Mr. Jin Ke graduated from the option "Management" of
Physical Land Resources with great distinction. He completed his M.Sc. thesis, which was entitled "Runoff and Sediment Transport under Field Simulated Rainfall in the Eastern Part of the Loess Plateau in China", under promotership of Prof. Dr. ir. D. Gabriels and Prof. Dr. ir.
R. Hartmann.
th
From 14 till 21 August 2002, the 17 th World Congress of
Soil Science took place in the Queen Sirikit National
Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. The general theme of the congress was “Confronting New Realities in the 21th Century”.
Quite a number of alumni and staff members of ITC, ICE and Physical Land Resources attended the congress: Prof.
D. Gabriels, Prof. R. Hartmann, Prof. G. Hofman, Prof. G.
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The meeting was well planned and organised, and there was ample occasion for scientists to meet during poster sessions and social activities. Also the quality of the oral presentations and posters was excellent, although I had the impression that many scientists keep their most important findings for publication in international journals, rather

than presenting them during a congress. This general trend will still increase, as pressure on scientists to score in the science citation index constantly increases.
During the Congress 65 symposia were organised, including oral presentations and poster sessions. Dozens of posters were presented daily. A jury had to evaluate them and select the best poster from each symposium. These were shown in a separate poster corner for the remaining time of the congress. The poster entitled “The digital land resources inventory of Rwanda and its applications ” by E.
Van Ranst, S. Imerzoukene and A. Verdoodt, and presented by A. Verdoodt, was the winning poster of the symposium on “G lobal and national digital databases on soil and terrain conditions, their compilation and uses” .
The final day of the congress, a second selection was made within the 65 winning posters. However, the competition in this round proved to be too heavy.
During the meetings of the council the new structure of the
International Union of Soil Scientists (IUSS), replacing the former International Soil Science Society (ISSS), has been finalised and new board members elected. After 12 years of function, Prof. Dr. W. Blum, Secretary-General of the ISSS and later of the IUSS, wanted to return to his scientific research. The new Secretary-General will be
Prof. Dr. Stephen Northcliff (Reading), assisted by Ir.
Hartemink (Wageningen). More information can be found on the new website of the IUSS (www.iuss.org).
During the council meeting it was also decided to establish an annual Worlds Soil Day (WSD) on 5 th of December , the birthday of the Thailand King (to thank Thailand for its hospitality and the King for his interest to soil management and soil protection).
The next international congresses will take place in
Philadelphia in 2006, and in Brisbane in 2010.
G. Stoops
COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED
December 2-12, 2002 : to consult literature : Ms. Feher
Olga, Szent Ishran University, Dept. of Soil Science and
Agrochemistry, Hungary.
Mr. Ebenezer Abuaku (M.Sc.-Ghent, 2002) became the proud father of a newborn baby boy on May 18, 2002.
Congratulations !
Ms. Morakot Dabbakula Na Ayudhya was born on 14
November 1938. She was former Soil Micromorphology
Expert of the Land Development Department, Bangkok,
Thailand. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University in 1957 and obtained her M.Sc in soil micromorphology from State University of Gent in 1967. She started working with the Land Development Department in 1963.
as a soil micromorphologist in the Soil Survey Division.
She moved to the Soil Analysis Division in 1975 as the head of the Soil Micromorphology sub-division. She was appointed as the Soil Micromorphology Expert in 1996 and retired in 2000. She had suffered from uterus cancer for two years and died because of heart failure on August
15, 2002.
Dr. Hari Eswaran
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Dr. Samarn Panichapong
°August 15, 1933 - September 6, 2002
Dr. Samarn Panichapong or Khun Samarn as he is popularly known in Thailand, graduated from Kasetsart
University with a degree in Agriculture in 1957 and joined the Land Development Department (LDD) as a Soil
Scientist and became a part of the team to initiate soil survey in Thailand. In 1961, he completed his M.S. degree at the Texas Technological University and completed another M.S. degree at the Rijksuniversiteit te Gent,
Belgium in 1965. Soon after, he became the Director of the Soil Survey Division of LDD. While managing the soil survey program, he worked on his thesis and obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Tokyo in 1982.
During the early years of the soil survey program, one of the challenges was to attract young scientists and train them for soil surveys. He managed to obtain funds for his staff to have advanced training in the U.S., Europe and in
Australia. In addition, he recognized the need to maintain contacts with soil scientists around the world and to foster this, he organized several regional and international
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meetings in Thailand and encouraged his staff to participate in similar meetings around the world. Soil
Science in the ASEAN countries is indebted to him for his initiative in organizing the many ASEAN soil conferences.
He was the de facto soil scientist of the region and won the admiration and respect of decision makers in agriculture of the region. His dream was to organize the World Congress of Soil Science in Thailand. Although his dream was realized, poor health prevented him from playing an important role.
His leadership in the Thai soil survey program has made it the most reliable and effective program in Asia. Making of soil maps and publication of reports is only the beginning of the task, was his instruction. To ensure that the soil survey products were used, he coordinated the development of many publications and audio-visual materials so that all users, from farmers to ministers were aware of the nation’s soil resources. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Khun Samarn had a small but significant role in the advances in Thai agriculture.
His vision for enhancing the productivity of the small farmers made him join the International Board for Soil
Research and Management (IBSRAM) in 1988. Prior to that he was one of the persons responsible for the establishment of IBSRAM and he was directly involved in developing the offices of IBSRAM in Thailand. In 1992, he parted company with IBSRAM when it changed its focus and emphasis and he decided to be semi-retired. A debilitating disease curbed his activities though he tried to remain an active member of the Soils and Fertilizer
Society of Thailand. The personality, his convictions and his contributions to soil science both in Thailand and in the region makes Khun Samarn a leader of soil science in
South East Asia.
Hari Eswaran
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED
University of Louvain (Belgium), and the same year the degree of “Licentiate in Geology and Mineralogy” at the same university. After his military service he joined the
INEAC station of Yangambi Central Congo) as a mineralogist in the soil survey division. After the independence of Congo he returned to Louvain to continue a study of basalt weathering, and later followed training on
X-ray diffraction and fluorescence at the Geological
Institute of the Ghent University. In 1962 he joined
ORSTOM and went to Adiopodoumé (Ivory Coast) where he worked on weathering till 1976, interrupted by a few short stays in Paris. Afterwards he was successively associated to the Faculty of Sciences of Nice (France), the
University of São Paulo (Brazil) and finally since 1987 the
University of Aix-Marseille III (Faculté de St. Jérome), where he continued working after his retirement in 1994.
Although well acquainted with methods such as SEM, microprobe and XRD, which he used to support his findings, his most preferred and powerful tool remained the optical microscope.
I consider Jean Delvigne without doubt as the best specialist in micromorphology of weathering, a good friend, a discrete and gentle person and a real devoted and gifted scientist. His famous book “Atlas of
Micromorphology of Mineral Alteration and Weathering“
(see book review in Pedon 10) will remain a benchmark for several generations of geologists and micromorphologists.
G. Stoops
Prof. Dr. ir. Rachman Sutanto
°January 26, 1951 - March 5, 2003
Dr. Delvigne during the congress diner of the International Working Meeting on
Micropedology in July 2001 in Gent.
Dr. Sri Nuryani communicated to us the decease of Prof.
Dr. ir. Rachman Sutanto. Dr. Sutanto obtained both his
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree at Ghent University (on 1984 and
1988 respectively), and was staff member at the Faculty of
Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University of Yogyakarta,
Dept. of Soil Science. He was not ill, but died quite suddenly after a game of badminton.
Sri Nuryani
Dr. Jean Delvigne passed away on the 19 in Marseille (France).
th of June 2002
Dr. Delvigne often visited the Laboratory for Mineralogy,
Petrology and Micropedology of the Geological Institute of the RUG for scientific discussions, and lectured at those occasions at the ITC on rock weathering, in the frame of the micromorphology course.
He was born on July 12, 1929 in Belgium, and obtained a degree of Agricultural Engineering in 1954 at the
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MEETINGS
The list can be consulted at : http://allserv.UGent.be/~amtanghe/PLRprog.html
Proposals for extra data or corrections :
E-mail : roger.langohr@UGent.be
September 2003 : Euroclay 2003 , Modena, ITALY.
Website : http://www.unimo.it/euroclay2003/
September 7-11, 2003 : 6th International Symposium on
Environmental Geochemistry , Edinburgh, U.K. E-mail : info@in-conference.org.uk. Website : http://www.ISEG2003.com
September 9-12, 2003 : Congress of the Polish Society of
Soil Science & International Conference : Soil in the
Environment , Krakow, POLAND. E-mail : kongres@grodzki.phils.uj.edu.pl. Website : http://www.geo.uj.edu.pl/soil
September 10-12, 2003 : Pedometrics 2003 , Reading,
U.K. E-mail : m.a.oliver@reading.ac.uk. Website : http://www.rdg.ac.uk.AcaDepts/as/Pedometrics.html
September 14-17, 2003 : Eighth Symposium on
Biogeochemistry of Wetlands , Gent, BELGIUM.
Website : http://www.UGent.be/isofys
September 21-28, 2003 : 12th World Forestry Congress,
Quebec City, Quebec, CANADA. Website : http://www.wfc2003.org/
September 21-24, 2003 : International symposium on
Sustainability of dehesas, montados and other agrosilvopastoral systems, Caceres, SPAIN. E-mail : schnabel@unex.es. Website : http://geot.unex.es/symposium
September 22-26, 2003 : 25 years of assessment of erosion, Gent, BELGIUM. E-mail : erosion@soilman.UGent.be. Website : http//soilman.UGent.be/symposium_erosion
September 23-24, 2003 : Geofcan, Géophysique des Sols et des Formations Superficielles, Paris, FRANCE. E-mail : geofcan@ccr.jussieu.fr. Website : http://ccr.jussieu.fr/dga/geofcan/index.html
September 29-October 3, 2003 : 8 th International Meeting on Soils with Mediterranean Type of Climate, Marrakech,
MOROCCO. E-mail : 8imsmtc@enameknes.ac.ma or rbouabid@enameknes.ac.ma. Website : www.enameknes.ac.ma/8thIMSMTC.
October 6-10, 2003 : International Conference on
Mechanisms and Regulation of Organic Matter
Stabilisation in Soils, Schloss Hohenkammer, Munich,
GERMANY. E-mail : som@wzw.tum.de. Website : http://www.wzw.tum.de/bk/hk
October 11-16, 2003 : Achieving Climate Predictability using Paleoclimate Data: EuroConference on North
Atlantic Climate Variability, San Feliu de Guixols,
SPAIN. Website : http://www.esf.org
November 2-6, 2003 : Annual Meeting Soil Science
Society of America, Changing Sciences for a Changing
World: Building a Broader Vision, Denver, Colorado,
U.S.A. Website : http://www.soils.org
November 17-19, 2003 : Soil erosion under climate change: rates, implications and feedbacks, Tucson,
Arizona, U.S.A. E-mail : tugcgm@windmillins.com.
Website : http://www.windmillins.com/ie40/tuc/tuc.htm
December 10-12, 2003 : Aerial Photography &
Archaeology 2003 (AP&A 2003). A Century of
Information. Ghent University, Het Pand, Gent,
BELGIUM. E-mail : APaA@vt4.net
March 22-26, 2004 : International Conference on
Innovative Techniques in Soil Survey, Cha-Am,
THAILAND. E-mail : vearasilp@access.inet.co.th.
August 20-28, 2004 : 32nd International Geological
Congress, workshop DWO11 “Soils and Archaeology
(IUSS), Firenze, ITALY. Website : http://www.32igc.org
September, 2004 : 4ème International Symposium of the working group MO “interactions of soil minerals with organic components and micro-organisms (ISMOM)” ,
Wuhan, CHINA. E-mail : qyhuang@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
Website : http://ours.hzau.edu.cn/~ismom2004
September 6-12, 200 4: EUROSOIL 2004, Freiburg-im-
Breisgau, GERMANY. E-mail :
Thorsten.Gaertig@bodenkunde.uni-freiburg.de. Website : http://www.forst.uni-freiburg.de/eurosoil/, DBG-
Homepage
September 13-17, 2004 : Eco-engineering: the use of vegetation to improve slope stability, Thessaloniki,
GREECE. E-mail : ecoconf@lrbb3.pierroton.inra.fr
September 15-17, 2004 : Digital soil mapping,
Montpellier, FRANCE. E-mail : lagacherie@ensam.infra.fr
September 27-October 1, 2004 : Fourth International Crop
Science Congress, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA. Website : http://www.cropscience2004.com
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MEETINGS
October 1-5, 2004 : VI International
Symposium on “plant-soil interaction at low pH”, Sendai,
JAPAN. Website : http://www.agri.tohoku.ac.jp/ecs/psi lph/
September 7-11, 2005 : Sixth
International Conference on
Geomorphology, Zaragoza, SPAIN.
E-mail : iag2005@posta.unizar.es.
Website : http://wzar.unizar.es/actos/SEG
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ADVANCED TRAINING AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Since 2002, doctoral fellowships from the Special
Research Fund of Ghent University are made available to nationals from developing countries. The fellowships are awarded for an initial period of two years, which may be extended by an additional two years, depending on the evaluation results of the progress report.
The candidates must come from and also possess the nationality of one of the countries on the OECD-DAC list part I (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development - Development Assistance Committee).
Priority will be given to the categories on the DAC-List of
Aid Recipients' with the lowest levels of development and income.
The applications, which are to be written in English on forms provided by the University for this purpose, have to be submitted by a promoter who is associated with Ghent
University .
Only a few of such scholarships are awarded yearly, for candidates from all disciplines covered at Ghent
University. Thus the competition is high and the selection severe. Only highly qualified candidates stand a chance, e.g. having a minimum of 2 publications as first author in internationally peer reviewed journals is strongly recommended.
Interested candidates should directly contact the professor whom they would like to act as promoter for information on research possibilities and on the application procedure.
To enable promising candidates of ICP's at Flemish
Universities, and sponsored by VLIR to take a Ph.D. at a
Flemish University, the VLIR proposed to grant every year a maximum of ten Ph.D. scholarships to excellent ICP graduates from a country on the OECD-DAC list from
Africa, Latin-America or Asia, referred to as a developing country and who have permanent residence in that country. The application should be made within two years after completion of the ICP. Summarised the basic prerequisites for application are :
− ICP graduate (Master's level), obtained with distinction
− National of a country on the OECD-DAC list from
Africa, Latin America or Asia
− Permanent residence in a developing country
− Application submitted to VLIR within two years after completion of ICP.
It is not necessary or even desirable to submit an application immediately after obtaining the ICP Master's degree. On the contrary, it is recommended that the graduates first return to their own university to work out their research proposal with the local promoter and the
Flemish promoter.
Eligibility criteria, other than the basic prerequisites are :
− The applicants should preferably not be employed in a department where co-operation with VLIR is going on in the context of the Programme for Instituional
University Co-operation (IUC) or an Own Initiative
(OI)
− The applicants should not be over 40 years old on the day they submit the application
− The applicants should have a very good command of the English Language
− The applicants should not have received a scholarship for Ph.D in the past
− The applicants should not have the financial resources they need to complete the Ph.D.
− As the aim of the programme is institutional strengthening of the local institution in the developing country in which the applicant is employed and a promoter employed by a Flemish University
− It should be possible to complete the Ph.D. in time according to the sandwich principle
− The application should be supported by both a promoter linked to the institution in the developing country in which the applicant is employed and a promoter employed by a Flemish University
For more information about selection criteria and the application procedure, contact the VLIR : FLEMISH
INTERUNIVERSITY COUNCIL, Bolwerksquare 1A, B-
1050 Brussel, Belgium. Phone +32 2 289 05 58
Fax +32 2 514 72 77. E-mail scholarships@vlir.be
Internet http://www.vlir.be
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