Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas

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Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas (SUITMA) is an international group dedicated to the scientific and applied research on Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas.

It was created in 1998 during the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) Congress held in Montpellier (France), thanks to the initiative of Prof. Wolfgang Burghardt.

SUITMA is chaired by Prof. Jean-Louis Morel and co-chaired by Prof. Ganlin Zhang.


Aims and activities

The aims of SUITMA are :

  • Promote soil science in strongly anthropogenic areas (SUITMAs), where human future will meet major challenges (food, health, prosperity)
  • Stimulate multi-disciplinary research and teaching for a better understanding and sustainable management of SUITMAs
  • Increase the impact of soil science in the decision-making process for urban land management
  • Create a community of scientists dedicated to urban soil issues (soil, geology, agronomy, chemistry, physics, environment, forestry, horticulture, ecology)
  • Communicate to other communities : e.g. economists, lawyers, policy-makers, engineers, health, land planners, companies, citizens
SUITMA symposiums
SUITMA 2000 Essen (Germany)
SUITMA 2003 Nancy (France)
SUITMA 2005 Cairo (Egypt)
SUITMA 2007 Nanjing (China)
SUITMA 2009 New-York (United States)
SUITMA 2011 Marrakech (Morocco)
Back to the general presentation

"SUITMA" stands for :

  • the name of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) working group dedicated to the study of SUITMAs,
  • the name of the conference organised every two years by the working group since 2000

The next conference, SUITMA-6 will be held in Marrakech (Morocco) in 2011 ; a pre-conference tour is scheduled in Senegal.


Other activities of the SUITMA working group :

  • SUITMA will also organise a session on Urban soils at the next EGU conference (European Geoscience Union) - (2-7 May, 2010) in Vienna (co-chair Thomas Nehls, Christophe Schwartz)
  • SUITMA is associated to the Journal of Soils and Sediments since 2008. Contributions related to this specific area are welcome. See "An interdisciplinary working group of the International Union of Soil Science dedicated to soils strongly modified by human activities" (2008) Journal of Soils and Sediments, 8:206–207
  • A COST action on Urban soils was submitted to the EU call for proposals (25 September, 2009) by Franco Ajmone-Marsan. If successful, this action will strongly contribute to the missions of SUITMA.

Main topics of interest

Methodology for urban and disturbed soils

  • Soil description
  • Soil sampling techniques
  • Laboratory methods
  • Soil classification
  • Soil survey and mapping
  • GIS methods

Impacts of urbanization on soil resources

  • Land use change under urbanization
  • Pedogenesis and quality changes of urban soils
  • Physical aspects of urban soil changes
  • Chemical aspects of urban soil changes
  • Biological aspects of urban soil changes
  • Historical aspects of urban soil formation and characterization

Urban soils and ecosystem services

  • Ecological impacts of urbanization in regional and global scales
  • Urban soils and plants
  • Urban soils and hydrology
  • Biogeochemical cycling in the urban ecosystem
  • Pollution status and control of urban soils
  • Remediation & cleanup standards of contaminated soils
  • Ecological assessment of urban soil quality
  • Ecology-based urban land use planning

Urban soils, social and health issues

  • Urban soil management and legislation
  • Urban soils and human health
  • Urban soil education and training

Recommendations and Key issues

Recommendations

After more than 10 years of activity, the SUITMA group has reached maturity. It is recognized as a pioneer group which has stimulated the development of soil science in urban areas. It has contributed to the increasing interest for soils observed worldwide in urban areas. The community is now well identified. However, SUITMA cannot embrace every issue dealing with soils in populated areas. It should stress on the most urgent issues (e.g. competition for land : loss of arable land, soil degradation, urban agriculture, health-soil related problems), and anticipate future issues related to SUITMAs. Initially composed of soil scientists, SUITMA has gained interest among other communities (e.g. soil management, remediation, land planning, health, sociology). This trend is expected to increase and contribute to develop multidisciplinary approaches of the problems in urban areas where soils play a prominent role.

Key issues for SUITMA research (to be discussed and completed)

Knowledge of SUITMAs :

  • Types, distribution, classification, functions, evolution, survey, mapping
  • Solve heterogeneity and variability with time

Functions and services of SUITMAs in urban ecosystem :

  • sink for resources (e.g. P) and health/environmental threats (e.g. pollutants, pathogens, C)
  • mitigation of the effects of global change (vegetation, C storage)
  • resource for food : urban agriculture
  • fundamental component of urban ecosystems (e.g. parks)
  • resource for social stability, and art

Interwiki links

See SUITMA on wikis: Wicri/Wicri (pool inpl).

fr:Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas

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