Community Soil Resources Management for Sub-Saharan West Africa： Case Study of the Gourma Region in Burkina Faso

A study on community soil fertility management concepts and practices was conducted through rapid and participatory method of research in 15 villages of the Gourma region in Eastern part of Burkina Faso. These investigations aimed at determining farmers＇ knowledge on soil resources： local soil taxonomy and indicators of soil degradation, soil fertility management practices, and capacity for adoption of new technologies in soil fertility management. The results of the study showed that the main parameter for soil classification for all the investigated villages was soil texture composition; soil degradation was evaluated according to crops yield decrease and the development Striga sp. in 100% of the investigated villages; the use of organic manure and long term fellow were the main practices for soil fertility management; concerning the villages where modem technologies of soil fertility management were introduced, the lack of tools and capacity building were the main limiting factors of the adoption of these improved practices at small scale farmers＇ level. Even if discordance between scientific and local soil taxonomy were revealed by our investigations; significant similarities between indigenous and scientific indices of soil degradation were noticed. With regard to the actual magnitude of soil degradation; the local techniques of soil fertility management need to be improved and accessible to a big number of farmers.

Subsoil Natural Physico-Chemical Reactor:Regularity of Natural Processes of Synthesis of Perfect Diamond Crystals

Studies of inclusions(defects)in minerals have shown that the source of carbon in the natural processes of synthesis of perfect diamond crystals is mantle carbon dioxide,(СО2)Р=6.1МPаandδ13С=(-6.1±0.5)‰.A new mechanism for the synthesis of natural crystals of diamond,pyrope,magnetite,quartz,etc.has been developed.It is shown that under the influence of a powerful pulse of tectonogenic energy in some parts of the lithosphere that there are deep faults-tubes,which take root-migrating melt in the direction of the earth’s crust.During migration in the contact zone—“melt-lithosphere rocks”due to their contact interaction-friction,a high-voltage electric field of complex shape is formed,in which CO2 turns into an energy-excited state,its molecules decompose into individual radicals and atoms.In the melt-electrolyte under the influence of an electric field,ions-cations move in certain directions depending on the configuration of the field,which is due to magma,contact with rocks of the lithosphere and the speed of magma in the gap-tube.As they move,these ions undergo numerous collisions with the molecules present there,in particular,СО2 and its atoms and radicals,temporarily forming unstable compounds that fall into the zone with existing iron compounds,etc.OxygenСО2 poatomically detaches from the molecule and forms FeO·Fe2O3(magnetite),and the most energetically advantageous for chemically active carbon atoms in such an environment is that the melt bonds together form a diamond crystal.The isolated SiO2 molecules chemically form a group of garnets,quartz,and the like.

The Methods of Research on Formation and Evolution of the Solar Nebula

Based on the studies of meteorites,theauthors introduce the formation and evolutionof the solar system,including condensation,heating and alteration in the solar nebula,thermal metamorphism,igneous fractionationand shock metamorphism in parent bodies ofmeteorites.Heterogeneities in chemical