Centro de Tecnologia Mineral

Ministrio da Cincia e Tecnologia

Coordenao de Desenvolvimento Sustentvel

Trends on Soil Science in Brazil

Saulo Rodrigues Pereira Filho

CETEM

CT2003-130-00 Contribuio Tcnica ao Journal of Soils

and Sediments, V.4, n.3, p. 263-264,
2003.

2003

Global Soils: Brazil

Trends on Soil Science in Brazil

Global Soils: Brazil

Trends on Soil Science in Brazil*
Saulo Rodrigues-Filho
Centre for Mineral Technology CETEM, Av. Ip, 900, Cidade Universitria, 21941-590 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil
(srodrigues@cetem.gov.br)

This article points out some outstanding research projects

and research institutions dedicated to different aspects of
soil science in Brazil, including environmental, agriculture
and ecological applications. Similarly, it shows how biotechnology may contribute to soil conservation.
The predominantly acidic soils in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, often present
low nutrient availability (principally N and P) and aluminium
toxicity. Research conducted at several EMBRAPA Centres
(Brazilian Agriculture Research Corporation) has resulted in
the development of maize, sorghum, and rice varieties tolerant to Al toxicity, thus demanding much lower lime inputs.
Moreover, to overcome N deficiency, the maximization of inputs of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) to legume crops has
been very successful. The breeding of soybeans, without the
addition of N fertilizer and inoculated with selected strains of
Bradyrhizobium, has resulted in cultivars that produce high
yields without added N fertilizer which, for the 10 million ha
of soybean plantations, replaces approximately 1.5 billion US$
worth of N fertilizer per year into Brazilian agriculture. This
means there is also a huge, positive environmental impact.
The benefits derived from its research applications have led
EMBRAPA to a leading position in tropical agriculture research worldwide, and rendered a UNESCO Science Prize
(1989) to Johanna Dbereiner for her developments on the
technology of BNF.
Large areas of arable land in Southern Brazil have suffered
from severe erosion. Since efforts to contain the damage by
the implementation of conservative measures such as terracing have been unsuccessful, the ancient practice of green
manuring has been applied. More important than using
physical barriers to control runoff, which is responsible for
only 5 percent of erosion, the maintenance of soils covered
with growing plants or crop residues has been more effective, according to research conducted by EMBRAPA, ESALQ
(Agriculture College Luiz de Queiroz) and IAPAR (State
Agronomic Institute of Parana).
Conservation agriculture also contributes to wider environmental benefits such as:

improved management of soil and water resources from farm to

watershed levels: less flooding, less erosion, less desertification,

* See also: Matschullat J, Rodrigues-Filho S (2001): Mercury and Arsenic,

Heavy Metals and Pesticides (Editorial). JSS J Soils & Sediments 1 (4)
199200

more constant flow in the rivers, better recharge of groundwater

resources, improved water quality (less pollution) and reduced siltation effects downstream;

increased carbon sequestration and less carbon release (less fuel

used, less organic matter degradation);
increased biodiversity through diversification.

The increasing societal demand for actions and strategies towards sustainability of extraction activities, among which
small-scale gold mining in developing countries plays a pivotal role, has led experts to seek the management of hazards
associated with mercury pollution from active and abandoned
mining sites. Mercury pollution in terrestrial systems and its
health effects are the most frequent subjects worldwide in environmental research dealing with small-scale gold mining.
In August 2002, the Global Mercury Project (GMP) was initiated to help demonstrate ways of overcoming barriers to the
adoption of best practices, waste minimization strategies and
pollution prevention measures that limit the contamination of
international waters. The Project is funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF), co-funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and coordinated by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The main objectives of the GMP are the introduction of environmental and health monitoring programmes; building
capacity in local laboratories to assess the extent and impact of mercury pollution beyond the 3-year project life; a
large awareness programme, educational campaigns and
pilot units will be established to demonstrate the efficiency
and advantages of cleaner technologies.
Present focus areas consist of the gold mining areas in the
Brazilian Amazon Basin; Lake Victoria and adjacent smallscale gold mining areas in Tanzania; artisanal mining sites
along the Nile in Sudan; small-scale gold mining along tributaries of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe; river bed gold mining
activities along the Mekong in Lao PDR; small-scale gold
mining activities in Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The Brazilian Centre for Mineral Technology (CETEM) had
been invited, aside from other research institutions worldwide, to compete in an international bidding for Environmental and Health Assessments in each of the six GMP participating countries. After a thorough evaluation of their
quotations, CETEM has been awarded with the subcontracts
for Brazil and Indonesia.
Previous studies from CETEM, assessing mercury pollution
in gold mining regions of the Brazilian Amazon, have shown

JSS J Soils & Sediments 4 (3) 263 264 (2003)

ecomed publishers, D-86899 Landsberg, Germany and Ft. Worth/TX Tokyo Mumbai Seoul Melbourne Paris

263

Organochlorine Pesticides
that Fe-rich soils and sediments play a major role in retaining/transporting Hg. There, a possible association between
Hg and Al hydroxide was not taken into consideration. An
important accumulation of Hg in surface layers of different
Amazonian soils, reaching levels up to 0.30 g/g, has been
observed. The authors pointed out that these Hg levels are
an order of magnitude greater than those reported for temperate and nordic soils.
Estimates of the Hg emissions derived from gold mining in
the Brazilian Amazon point to 200,000 to 260,000 tonnes
Hg since the beginning of the European colonization. Another source of Hg in soils is the atmospheric Hg naturally
released from evapo-transpiration of leaves, decaying vegetation and volcanic activity. Hg is also released to the atmosphere through anthropogenic emissions, among which
gold mining and deforestation seem to be the most relevant
in the Brazilian Amazon. The amount of Hg emitted by deforestation has been estimated from the biomass distribution in the Amazon, reaching a value of 710 tonnes Hg for
the last 20 years.
As tropical ferralitic soils are thought to be as old as ~5
millenia, the long-term deposition of atmospheric Hg in soils
rich in Fe and Al hydroxides is likely to explain the widespread Hg accumulation in surficial ferralitic soils, rather
than a weathering-driven accumulation process from the
parent rock. If so, most of the Hg found in surficial soils is
derived from natural rather than anthropogenic sources as,
according to a study conducted by CETEM in 2001, sediments with elevated Hg concentrations have been deposited
in a Brazilian lake since, at least, 9000 yr ago.

Global Soils: Argentina

With regard to petrochemical wastes, land farming is a common treatment, but degradation rates in soils are relatively
low. Attempts to increase these rates consider the addition
of nutrients to the soil, use of surfactants to enhance cellular
uptake, addition of microorganisms, or a combination of these
techniques. The population of indigenous microorganisms can
be increased by isolating, culturing and returning them to the
soil, a process known as bioaugmentation. Sources of such
cells include normal or contaminated soil, petrochemical
wastes, contaminated water and industrial waste treatment
plants. Pseudomonas, Achromobacter, Arthrobacter, Micrococcus, Nocardia, Vibrio, Brevibacterium, Corynebacterium
e Flavobacterium. Among the main species of yeast and fungi,
Rhodotorula glutinis e Phanerochrate crysosporuim have been
tested by CETEM through a joint project with the Brazilian
Oil Corporation (Petrobrs).
Another interesting, recent study performed by a joint project
in the Brazilian Iron Quadrangle involving Minas Gerais
Federal University (UFMG), State University of Campinas
(Unicamp) and Interdisciplinary Environmental Research
Centre (Freiberg, Germany) present new data on both As
geochemistry and soil and sediment geochemistry in general
and discusses consequences of the encountered anomalies.
Finally, the efforts of some research institutions is to be highlighted led by the Brazilian Geological Service (CPRM)
and Unicamp towards the establishment of a Geomedicine Net encompassing several Brazilian institutions and researchers dealing with adverse health effects of both anthropogenic substances and human activities that have caused a
redistribution of some naturally occurring substances.

Global Soils: Argentina

Trends in Soil Science: Organochlorine Pesticides in Argentinean Soils
Karina S.B. Miglioranza 1,2*, Julia E. Aizpn de Moreno1 and Vctor J. Moreno 1
1 Lab.

de Ecotoxicologa, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, 7600,
Mar del Plata, Argentina
2 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientficas y Tcnicas (CONICET), Av. Rivadavia 1917, 1033, Buenos Aires, Argentina
* Corresponding author (kmiglior@mdp.edu.ar)

Argentina covers an area of 2,766,890 km2 at the southern

end of South America. The combination of temperate
weather, soil richness (organic matter > 7%) and proper rainfall lead to the enormous tracts of land that are claimed for
agricultural use. As a consequence, intensification of land
use for agricultural purpose has had a wide range of environmental effects. The development of agriculture interferes
with the natural processes of soil formation and exposes the
land to both wind and water erosion, the immediate effect
of which is a loss of the topsoil.
The gradual change in Argentina towards modern and intensive agricultural activities has led to an increase in the

264

use of pesticides. Between the years 1994 and 2002 there

was a 130% increase in the consumption of phytosanitary
products, from 80 to almost 180 million liters.
Information on historical and future trends in the use and
emission of persistent pollutants on a global scale is essential for interpreting present and predicting future environmental concentrations of these compounds in remote regions.
Among persistent pollutants, organochlorine pesticides
(OCPs) are ubiquitous contaminants, the occurrence of which
in the environment is of special concern because of their
resistance to degradation and the toxicity of some of their
constituents. OCPs have been heavily manufactured, formu-

3 (4)(2003)
JSS J Soils
& Sediments
(3) 264 265
JSS
J Soils & 4Sediments
2003
ecomed publishers, D-86899 Landsberg, Germany and Ft. Worth/TX Tokyo Mumbai Seoul Melbourne Paris