The Transylvanian Plain (TP) is a 395,000 ha region located in north-central Romania and is an area of agronomic importance in the region. The TP is characterized by hilly terrain, dissected by the Someş and Mureş Rivers. The terrain creates a unique situation when assessing pedology and soil temperature. Soils can change quickly across the landscape in the TP due to the terrain. To account for these differences, soil temperature was measured to predict soil temperatures as well as to evaluate growing conditions. Twenty stations were installed for a long-term temperature and pedology study. Pedons were described for morphological characterization at each location. Pedon descriptions were then classified using both US Soil Taxonomy (USST) and Sistemul Roman De Taxonomie A Solurilor (Romanian System of Soil Taxonomy- RSST). The two soil classification systems aligned for all 20 stations. Morphological descriptions showed that there were 10 Mollisols (Cernisoluri), 4 Alfisols (Luvisoluri), and 6 Inceptisols (Cambisoluri) according to USST (RSST). All locations had sufficient organic carbon to classify as mollic epipedons. However, other requirements such as: color and depth of epipedon were not met. Soil temperature is identified at the family level in USST and is not present in RSST. In addition to morphological characterization at the 20 locations, soil and air temperatures were measured via a data logging system. Soil temperature is a vital property when evaluating crop growth due to its influence on germination and root growth. Growing degree days (GDD) were evaluated for the summer of 2009 using air temperature for the TP. Craiesti and Filpisu Mare were significantly warmer than Matei and Zoreni and gained sufficient GDD for tasseling 21 days earlier. Mean annual soil temperature (MAST) was predicted using a multiple regression model and Landsat 7 ETM+. Landsat provided a better linear relationship to in situ MAST values with a coefficient of determination value (R2) of 0.63 compared to the multiple regression with an R2 of 0.42. Significant differences were found in MAST values between agricultural and urban land covers. The use of Landsat ETM+ could reduce the time and expense of large in situ field studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04032012-091137 |
| Date | 10 April 2012 |
| Creators | Haggard, Beatrix |
| Contributors | Rusu,Teodor, Emery McClure, Ursula, Wang, Jim Jian, Hiscox, April L., Selim, Magdi, Weindorf, David C. |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04032012-091137/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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