When the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) was created 75 years ago, the U.S. was suffering from major dust storms, causing the loss of enormous amounts of topsoil as well as human lives.
These catastrophic events reminded public officials that soils are essential to society’s well-being. The Soil Conservation Service was founded, and farmers were encouraged to implement erosion mitigation practices at a time when many questions about soil processes were still poorly understood.
As related in From Dust Bowl to Dust Bowl: Soils Still a Frontier of Science, great progress was made, but the current status of soils worldwide parallels that in the U.S. three quarters of a century ago. The authors of this review show with several concrete examples that, in spite of remarkable progress in our understanding of soil processes in the last few decades, many aspects of soils still remain extremely elusive and poorly understood.
There are persistent “islands of ignorance” in soil management that can alert public opinion about the significance of soils, attracting more students to the study of soils, and affecting policymaking related to soil degradation and conservation.
Dust bowls have reappeared in the last decade, reminiscent of the 1930s. One of these dust bowls is located in China. Even though they were already suffering from overplowing and overgrazing, the northwestern provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, plowed ever more marginal lands after 1994, when a decision was made by the Chinese government to require that all cropland used for construction be offset by land reclaimed elsewhere. Inner Mongolia led the way with a 22% cropland expansion. In addition, following economic reforms in 1978, livestock populations in the region have grown rapidly, often far beyond the land’s carrying capacity.
A direct result of these two trends is that soils have deteriorated, wind erosion has intensified, and the once infrequent, seasonal dust storms have become a far more common occurrence. In April 2001, one of the worst dust storms in memory hit Beijing and then drifted eastward, eventually blanketing areas from Canada to Arizona with a layer of dust. Similar dust storms have continued since.
This article was on in a series that celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Soil Science Society of America. Founded in 1936, SSSA supports peer-reviewed publications, an Annual Meeting, science policy activities, and the Certified Professional Soil Scientist Program. Today, SSSA continues to help its members advance the field of soil science through outreach to teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and members around the world.
Summary from:
From Dust Bowl to Dust Bowl: Soils Still a Frontier of Science by Philippe C. Baveye, David Rangel, Astrid R. Jacobson, Magdeline Laba, Christophe Darnault, Wilfred Otten, Ricardo Radulovich, and Flavio A.O. Camargo.
The original Soil Science Society of America Journal paper is at www.soils.org/publications/sssaj/tocs/75/6.
