3 ms·

I think this has been studied for at least 20 years already? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

• Symmetry 3y ago
  Charles Mann had a really good book on the pre-Columbian Americas back in 2005 which covered this as well as a bunch of fascinating other things.
  • davidw 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_Americas_Before_Columbus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_A...
  • hamburga 3y ago
    From what I remember it was just a tease at the very end of the book (1491). It seemed to be on the frontier of the research at the time the book was published. They knew about the existence of black earth (terra preta) but were really only speculating about how much human effort and over how much time was involved to create it.
• specialist 3y ago
  Aside: I'd like to know more about the critters within terra preta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta#Microorganisms_and_animals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta#Microorganisms_and... Our volunteer group is creating new urban forests. Digging out invasives and planting natives. Our soil is terrible. Glacial till (?) and gravel. In addition to mulch and soil treatments, someone suggested transplanting some dirt from healthy forest areas. Maybe there's fungus, bacteria, or whatever, that will help our new plants. Couldn't hurt, right?