TOURS

Stirling tour - Changing Environment: A Historical and Modern Perspective on Soil Use & Management along the Carse of Stirling - SOLD OUT

This tour will look at soil development, use and management in and around the Carse of Stirling, an area subject to significant environmental changes over the last 8,000 years that has culminated in the installation of comprehensive drainage systems to create to the more fertile farmland that we see today. Profiles in this land will be seen at Stirling University using the Soil Judging competitions training pits where free-draining brown earths (Cambisols) and seasonally waterlogged Gleyic soils are exposed in raised beach deposits and adjacent reddish glacial drift derived from Devonian sandstones. In recent times, peat was also drained to facilitate commercial peat extraction and forest plantations. Despite this extensive reworking of the landscape, the remains of peat bog domes around Flanders Moss are one of the most extensive intact raised bog sites in Europe with peat depth reaching over 7 metres in places. The National Nature Reserve and adjacent Forest Research site here will be visited showing restoration work to enhance biodiversity and increase carbon sequestration illustrating the changing value of peatland from a ‘waste’ to vital carbon sink.

Dates:
5 August 2022
Departure Location:
Glasgow (SEC)
Finish Location:
Glasgow (SEC)
Board Basis:
Lunch provided
PRICE:
£100.00

Tour leader: Dr Matt Aitkenhead (the James Hutton Institute) / Dr Patricia Bruneau (NatureScot) / Dr Clare Wilson (University of Stirling)

Matt is a soil researcher at the James Hutton Institute with a keen interest in the development of novel modelling and classification approaches, Clare is a soil science lecturer at the University of Stirling with interest in legacy of past activity influences soil quality and Patricia is a soil science specialist with NatureScot, Scotland’s Nature Agency.
© 2023 - The World Congress of Soil Science 2022 is a limited company, registered in England and Wales 12994006 and a Registered Charity No. 1192796
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