Chemical and Physical Properties of Buried Cultivated Soils of Edo Periods under the Volcanic Mudflow Deposits of the 1783 Eruption of Asama Volcano

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  • SUNAGA Kaoruko
    Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology United Graduate School of Agricultural Science
  • SAKAGAMI Kan-ichi
    Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Faculty of Agriculture
  • SEKI Toshiaki
    Gunma Archaeological Research Foundation

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 浅間山噴火(1783年)に伴う泥流により埋没した畑遺構土壌の理化学的特徴
  • アサマヤマ フンカ 1783ネン ニ トモナウ デイリュウ ニ ヨリ マイボツ シタ ハタケイコウドジョウ ノ リカガクテキ トクチョウ

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Description

The ridge shapes of arable lands are often observed inside buried soil layers covered by huge amounts of volcanic deposits in Japan. The object of this study is to clarify the chemical and physical characteristics of past-cultivated soils and to find any indicator useful for the identification of the ancient upland soils in ruins. This study was carried out at two ruins, Kugudo and Shimohara in Gunma prefecture, Central Japan, where it has been historically made clear that the former land surfaces had been cultivated and were buried by sediment of volcanic mudflow deposits of the 1783 eruption of Asama volcano. Soil samples were taken from each horizon in the mudflow layer and the buried soils located at the cultivated sites and non-cultivated sites, respectively. For comparing chemical characteristics between cultivated sites and non-cultivated soils in Edo Period with that in the present, some recent surface soils under cultivation and immediately adjacent uncultivated soils were also analyzed. The results are as follow: 1) Both in Kugudo and Shimohara, the surface soils at 1783 was deformed little by deposition of mudflow which has the thickness of 1〜2m. The surface of upland field at 1783 were ridged with 2〜10cm height and 45〜65cm width. The ridges were furrowed along contour line. 2) The chemical properties of mudflow horizon were almost the same irrespective of the cultivated sites or the non cultivated sites. 3) The contents of total-carbon, total-nitrogen and easily decomposable organic matter in soils of the cultivated sites were lower than those in the non-cultivated sites, while the contents of available phosphorus and the values of bulk density were higher in the former sites. These tendencies recognized at the surface soils of Edo Period were also observed at the recent surface soil. 4) The contents of exchangeable potassium in the surface soils of Edo period depend on the position in the ridge shapes. 5) Chemical characteristics of surface soil of Edo period are at the lower level than those of recent surface soil. 6) The ratio of easily decomposable organic matter to available phosphorus (E.D.O./A.P) was lower in the cultivated sites than in the non-cultivated sites. Similar tendency was observed in recent surface soils. Therefore, this ratio is considered to be a useful indicator to identify the ancient upland soils buried in the ruins.

Journal

  • Pedologist

    Pedologist 47 (1), 14-28, 2003-06-30

    Japanese Society of Pedology

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