Some of the globe's richest soil -- known as terra preta, or Amazonian dark earths -- can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground. Because terra preta is loaded with so-called bio-char -- ...

Scientists found that a small amount of ancient Amazon dark earth soil can help trees grow faster in damaged land.

Indigenous people of the Amazon produced rich agricultural soil by adding charcoal, manure, and animal bones to the otherwise nutrient-poor dirt of the world’s greatest rainforest. The inputs allowed ...

Terra preta, the ancient charcoal-based soil used by ancient Amazonians to create permanently fertile agricultural lands in the rainforest, is getting serious consideration as a means to fight global ...

With so many nutrients caught up in the life cycles of lush forest plants, most soil in the Amazon Basin is nutrient-poor clay. But throughout the region, pockets of fertile, dark soil (“terra preta” ...

When a rainforest is clearcut for agricultural use, we only see the surface problems: fewer trees, destruction of plant and animal habitats, and countless other negative effects on the environment. A ...

Hidden deep within the Amazon rainforest, there's a 2,000-year-old archaeological legacy revolutionising modern reforestation practices. This soil, called Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) or ‘Terra Preta,’ ...

The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can ...