Did Tsunami tremor jolt microbial biomass and their activities in soils? A case study in Andaman Island, India

The nature of selected soil-chemical and microbial properties influenced by tsunami affected and non-affected areas along the border areas of the alluvial Andaman Island in India were investigated. Soils of these areas have turned saline and saline-sodic due to the ingression of sea water. The electrical conductivity of the saturation extract of the surface soil varied from 11.2 to 23.8 dS m⁻¹ in 2005, and it was decreased to 0.8–10.3 dS m⁻¹ in 2006 due to the heavy rain in the following year after the tsunami. Soil quality indicators, like microbial biomass C, microbial metabolic quotient, microbial respiration quotient and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing activity, decreased in the tsunami affected soil in 2005, but slightly increased in 2006. All microbial parameters were significantly negatively correlated with the electrical conductivity, sodium absorption ratio and exchangeable sodium percentage. Suppression of microbial biomass and their activities in the soils due to the increased-salinity is of great agronomic significance and needs suitable intervention for sustainable crop production. Significant differences were found in soil-chemical and microbial characteristics between tsunami affected and non-affected areas. Hierarchical clustering algorithm on the basis of different soil-chemical and microbial characteristics revealed that there is significant difference in grouping between tsunami affected and non-affected zones. From this study, it can be concluded that the sea water ingression detrimentally influenced the microbial properties of tsunami affected soil.