What is Terra Preta ?
Terra Preta (or 'Terra Preta do Indio' or 'Indian Black Soil') is an anthropogenically (man made) modified, fertile soil, which has been developed in small patterns from infertile Latosols (Oxisols) in the Amazon lowlands.
Influence of man is shown by abundance of many artefacts (ceramics) of Pre-Columbian Indians, which have been living in these areas some 2000+ years ago. Indians have 'modified' the soils of their dwelling sites by mulching and compost since thousands of years.
In soil terms, Terra Preta is defined as a subtype of Latosol, which has a high till very high C content (> 13-14 % organic matter) in its A horizon, but without hydromorphic characteristics.
Organic matter can be found in depths of 1 and 2 m (e.g. at 50 cm depth, often > 5 % OM).
The author made the proposal to talk of TP only, if OM content at 50 cm depth is > 2.0 or 2.5 %.
-
Thesis about TP with description of TP and sites, anorganic-chemical characteristics by Gerhard Bechtold:
- Summary
- Table of Content
- Chapter 1: Terra Preta
- Chapter 3: Field work
- Chapter 7: Outlook
- Entire thesis (vol.1 of 'Terra Preta do Indio: Anorganisch-chemische Kennzeichnung eines brasilianischen Anthrohumoxes', 1982, in German, 421 pages) can be viewed/downloaded as pdf file. This work generated a vast scientific research with more then 4000 scientific papers so far. The author will appreciate acknowledgement.
- LATEST: Part of video of Arte about archeology and artefacts in Amazonia
- Map with Terra Preta sites in Amazon region (incl Belterra) (interactive map, compiled by G.Bechtold)
- Video of BBC about Terra Preta in Amazonia
- New Terra Preta as a model for future land use
- Terra Preta GmbH: Company to manufacture Terra Preta (in Germany)
- Terra Preta at Wikipedia
- The Black Revolution (article in Spiegel magazine, in German)
- Field map of one major centre of TP occurrence
at Belterra (2.63 S, 54.93 W)
- Terra Preta de Indio: Commodification and Mythification of the Amazonian Dark Earths, by Soentgen et.al. (2017) (article in Gaia)
- From the “Terra Preta de Indio” to the “Terra Preta do Gringo”: A History of Knowledge of the Amazonian Dark Earths, by Hilbert and Soentgen (2020) , also
- The nutrient-rich legacy in the Amazon’s dark earths (2022, by Kate Evens)
- Ethnographic research work for Terra Preta by Anna Roosevelt