Terre Noire
Terre Noire literally "black soil" in Gaullican) is a type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil (anthrosol) found in the Sythe Rainforest, Arucian islands, and !Mesoamerica. It is also known as "Sythe dark earth". In Soravian its known as "Chornozem", in Ruttish as "Juodas purvas", and in Etrurian as "Sporco nero", all literally translate to "black soil".
Terre noire owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content, and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bones, broken pottery, compost and manure to the low fertility Sythe soil. A product of indigenous soil management and slash-and-char agriculture, the charcoal is stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients. Such properties allowed the soil to retain nutrients in the highly competitive Sythe jungle, and heavy rains of the region.
Deforested arable soils in the Sythe are productive for a short period of time before their nutrients are consumed or leached away by rain or flooding. This forces farmers to migrate to an unburned area and clear it (by fire). Terre noire is less prone to nutrient leaching because of its high concentration of charcoal, microbial life and organic matter. The combination accumulates nutrients, minerals and microorganisms and withstands leaching.
Terre noire soils were created by farming communities between 450 BCE in the Sythe rainforest. It was brought by Marai peoples to their colonies, from which it spread throughout the entire Arucian Sea. Currently sites in Ardesia, Aucuria, Carucere, Satucin, and Vinalia have been discovered with Terre noire present. Soil depths can reach 2 meters (6.6 ft). It is reported to regenerate itself at the rate of 1 centimeter (0.4 in) per year.
History
Early theories
The origins of the Sythe dark earth were not immediately clear to later settlers. One idea was that they resulted from ashfall from volcanoes in South Asteria, since they occur more frequently on the brows of higher terraces. Soravian settlers in Vinalia attributed likewise the dark soils of the region to volcanic activity in the region, similar instances in the mostly volcanic islands of the Arucian had been reached. However such theories have been changed, primarily by the continuation of similar practices by indigenous communities throughout the Asterias. One theory suggests that the soils were made naturally as a result of sedimentation in tertiary lakes or in recent ponds.
Anthropogenic roots
Soils with elevated charcoal content and a common presence of pottery remains can accrete accidentally near living quarters as residues from food preparation, cooking fires, animal and fish bones, broken pottery, etc., accumulated. Many Terre noire soil structures are now thought to have formed under kitchen middens, as well as being manufactured intentionally on larger scales. Farmed areas around living areas are referred to as terra mulata. Terre Brun is a term in Gaullican used to describe the mostly brown soils surrounding established Terre noire soils. Terrre brun soils are noted to be more fertile than surrounding soils which are described as "common soils" but are however less fertile than terre noire, and were most likely intentionally improved using charcoal. The arrival of such soils primarily to Asteria Superior has been as definitive proof that a technique existed and was purposefully used to improve soils.
This type of soil appeared around 450 BCE at sites throughout the Sythe Basin.] Recent research has reported that terre noire may be of natural origin, suggesting that pre-colonial people intentionally utilized and improved existing areas of soil fertility scattered among areas of lower fertility. With similar techniques being exported abroad.
Something about how they were used in the Sythe Basin
Marai people
Use by !Mesoamerican civilizations
Terre Noire or Chornozem as its known in Soravian, were widely used in Zapoyan, and the Úuchmáan civilizations, and in some cases are still farmed and made today. Zapoyan texts dated to the 3rd century CE, reveal the existence of highly fertile soils in Arucian Sea, comparable to the soils in the Juyu Ruwach Mountains of Vinalia, which were fertilized by ashes from volcanic activity. A Marai colony was established in the island of Kisharsk, in modern Vinalia, from where the practice made its way into the rest of the region. Either by the immigration of Marai people into the mainland, or from trading for the knowledge directly. Zapoyan polities in the coasts of modern Vinalia were interested in the Terre noire, as they had been removed from the Juyu Ruwach mountains by the Úuchmáans.
Terre noire has been discovered in the Zapoyan site of Itoyotl, dated to the 5th century CE. Some historians however claim that older sites exist. Zapoyan use of the Terre noire was primarily for the growth of Maize, and was performed in specially prepared land, that allowed for intricate irrigation systems. However such sites were not large and could not have solely sustained the population of entire cities. Zapoyan cities in the west of modern Vinalia, close to the modern border with Ardesia, the cities Yumchakob, Michuacan, Miyaoachitl, Zuma, and Och-Kan featured special buildings solely made for the preparation of soil into Terre noire, and their use for agriculture.
Úuchmáan cities were noted to have used similar techniques to improve soils of low fertility, however it was not used extensively, as the highly fertile soils of the region allowed little need for further enhancement.
Location
Terree noire soils are found mainly in the Satucine Sythe, where its estimated that they cover at least 0.1 to 0.3%, of low forested Sythe; but others estimate this surface at 10.0% or more. Recent model-based predictions suggest that the extent of terre noire soils may be of 3.2% of the forest.
Terre noire exists in small plots averaging 20 hectares (49 acres), but areas of almost 360 hectares (890 acres) have also been reported. They are found among various climatic, geological, and topographical situations. Their distributions either follow main water courses, or are located near large cities as is the case in !Mesoamerica.
Terre noire sites are known in Ardesia, Aucuria, Azure Coast, Belmonte, Carucere, Imagua and the Assimas, Saint Chloe, Satucin, and Vinalia.