Physical and chemical analyses of bare soil sites in Western Central Brazil: a case study

The extent of degraded areas in Brazil, mostly caused by human activities, is increasing. Degradation leads frequently to bare soils, which, due to lack of vegetation cover, are liable to erosion and, therefore, might be the main source of sediments. The objective of this study is to analyze the physical and chemical soil properties of a degraded site (bare soil) in the Federal District of Brazil, which is located in the Cerrado biome, one of the global frontiers for agricultural expansion and urbanization as well as a major global biodiversity ‘hotspot’. Soil samples from degraded and reference sites were collected in this area and analyzed. The results of this study confirm that several soil physical and chemical factors are altered by compaction and topsoil removal. In particular, our study shows that degraded soils are rather low in nutrients and have unfavorable physical soil properties compared to reference soils under native vegetation of Cerrado with dynamic nutrient cycling and low bulk densities.