Atmospheric deposition effects on agricultural soil acidification state - Key study: Krupanj Municipality

Abstract

Acidification, as a form of soil degradation is a process that leads to permanent reduction in the quality of soil as the most important natural resource. The process of soil acidification, which in the first place implies a reduction in soil pH, can be caused by natural processes, but also considerably accelerated by the anthropogenic influence of excessive S and N emissions, uncontrolled deforestation, and intensive agricultural processes. Critical loads, i.e. the upper limit of harmful depositions (primarily of S and N) which will not cause damages to the ecosystem, were determined in Europe under the auspices of the Executive Committee of the CLRTAP in 1980. These values represent the basic indicators of ecosystem stability to the process of acidification. This paper defines the status of acidification for the period up to 2100 in relation to the long term critical and target loading of soil with S and N on the territory of Krupanj municipality by applying the VSD model. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) geostatistic module was used as the interpolation method. Land management, particularly in areas susceptible to acidification, needs to be focused on well-balanced agriculture and use of crops/seedlings to achieve the optimum land use and sustainable productivity for the projected 100-year period.