Word: soils
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...soil at the bottom of the Tapaj?s pit is one clue to the nature of this potential catastrophe. Rain-forest trees suck moisture from as deep as 18 m beneath the fragile surface of the land. During periodic droughts, such as occurred during 1998?s El Ni?o, vegetation can rapidly deplete this groundwater, desiccating trees and turning them into potential torches...
...rain forest is not good agricultural land, to put it mildly: the very nature of the ecosystem is to recycle organic matter without enriching the underlying soil. Once cleared, the acidic dirt of the forest floor is exhausted after a few harvests. That in turn causes peasant farmers to keep moving and sell their barren holdings to cattle ranchers looking to buy cleared land on the cheap. So the devastation continues to creep forward. All over the Amazon, I saw vast areas of degraded land where before there was a virtually unbroken expanse of trees. In all, the Amazon contains...
...which fires during the first year of a drought encourage further fires even if rains return the next season. During the first year of a disruption by El Ni?o, the plant life of the rain forest will suck all the water from the upper 5 m of the soil that supports it. Unless a series of biblical deluges recharges that soil, the water deficit will not be overcome in the next rainy season, so that by the following dry season, soil moisture will be drawn down even further, beyond the reach of the rain-forest root network...
...hostile relations dating back to the Nixon administration, the visit opened the door for what many hope will be a new epoch of closer, and more hospitable, Indo-American affairs. However, while the visit showed a willingness of behalf of Americans to welcome the Indian government onto its soil, it did not demonstrate a willingness to genuinely refocus the lens through which the country is viewed. Politicians and the press alike evaluated the success of the visit based entirely on its potential effects with regard to nuclear non-proliferation. The wealth of other areas in which Indian and American interests...
...live near chemical plants or landfill, which was the first thing Shaughnessy and Brennan looked for when they arrived this morning. There is traffic a couple of blocks away, which picks up during rush hours. That could mean higher levels of lead and other toxic metals in the soil, which can be tracked indoors and into carpets and can eventually get into toddlers' mouths. It was good that our floors are mostly hardwood and are damp-mopped weekly, noted Brennan, though he suggested adding rubber mats at front and back doors "to further reduce track...