Control of tillage disturbance on the chemistry and proportion of raindrop-liberated particles from soil aggregates

Hou, Ting; Berry, Timothy D.; Singh, Sarmistha; Hughes, M. N.; Tong, Yanan; Papanicolaou, A. N.; Wacha, K.; Wilson, Christopher G.; Chaubey, Indrajeet; Filley, Timothy R.

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.05.013

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Another subsample from the in‐situ soil and sediment fractions was used to determine total organic C and total organic nitrogen (TON) using an elemental analyzer following methods proposed by Hou et al. (2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of tillage row orientation on physical and chemical sediment enrichment

Wacha

Papanicolaou

Abban

et al. 2020

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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This study aimed to better understand how tillage row orientation with respect to dominant flow-pathway along hillslope impacts runoff and the transport of different sediment size fractions. Experimental plots were constructed in contour ridge till (CRT) and parallel ridge till (PRT) sites to monitor runoff and sediment fluxes. Particle size fractions of the sediment, along with organic C and N contents were measured to quantify physical and chemical enrichment ratios for the two tillage orientations. In the CRT plot, tillage produced large oriented roughness elements along the contours, which acted as little check dams, while in the PRT site, the roughness elements helped confine and concentrate the runoff. In the CRT, the "check dams" resulted in a runoff coefficient of .03, while in the PRT, the flow confinement between rows produced a runoff coefficient of .82. Moreover, the erosion rates at the CRT site were 97% less than those in the PRT plot. Large contours produced finer sediment fractions due to the selective sorting in ponded furrows. More aggregate sediment fractions were present in the PRT site, which was dominated by rill erosion. Physical enrichment revealed selective entrainment of finer sediment particles during erosion. Finer-grain particles with higher specific surface areas, attached more organic C resulting in chemical enrichment. Physical and chemical enrichment methods were found to be in good agreement. These findings suggest transport models that can simulate size fraction updates to the soil active layer can be used to estimate SOC redistribution and hence more accurate C budgets.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of tillage row orientation on physical and chemical sediment enrichment

Wacha

Papanicolaou

Abban

et al. 2020

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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“…During our study, the row crop fields were bare of vegetation after the autumn harvest with a substantial amount of organic matter in the form of crop residue left in the fields. In these conditions, surface soils are susceptible to erosion and runoff during a precipitation event (Abaci and Papanicolaou, 2009;Hou et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Hydrologic Controls On Poc Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The C-isotopes are especially sensitive to source variations in an agricultural watershed where corn, a C4 plant, is a dominant row crop. The distinct 13 C-enrichment of corn (δ 13 C ∼ −10 to −14‰) relative to more common terrestrial C3 plants (−25 to −29‰) and phytoplankton (−24 to −40‰) (Fry and Sherr, 1989;Thornton and McManus, 1994;Bianchi et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2018) allowed us to identify the input of corn-derived POC (Hou et al, 2018). Studies performed in the Clear Creek watershed indicate that surface soils and rain-drop liberated particulates from row crop fields have δ 13 C values ranging from −16.6 ± 0.5 to −19.6 ± 1.3‰, which reflect varying corn OC inputs (Hou et al, 2018).…”

Section: Poc Compositional Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Storm-Induced Dynamics of Particulate Organic Carbon in Clear Creek, Iowa: An Intensively Managed Landscape Critical Zone Observatory Story

et al. 2020

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Rivers integrate and transport particulate organic carbon (POC) from multiple sources with varied diagenetic histories. A significant amount of POC is delivered to rivers during storm events, but the sources and fates of the mobilized material are often unclear.To gauge the variability of input sources, this study uses a biomarker approach that broadly characterizes organic matter at the molecular level. Suspended sediment was collected during a storm in October 2015 at three nested sampling locations along Clear Creek in Iowa, U.S.A. Supplemented with bulk elemental and C-isotopic measurements, biomarker analyses were obtained to identify changes in sources and the diagenetic state of the POC. Fatty acid-rich organic matter was attributed to the mobilization of algal mats in the stream channel at the early stage of the storm as precipitation initiated and water velocities began to increase. A significant contribution of lignin-rich material occurred at peak precipitation and elevated discharge signifying soil sources. Tracers for partially oxidized lignin and soil organic matter suggested that this was a partially time-resolved mixture of fresh and degraded material. Storm-induced variations of biomarkers were observed at the three sampling stations located throughout the watershed. The mixing patterns became more complex as the storm pulse moved downstream due to the additive contributions of multiple tributaries and the hypothesized increasing importance of alluvial bank erosion. This erosional increase is attributed to a systematic transition in basin geomorphology from a V-shape in the upper reach to a wider box-shaped valley in the lower reach. Even though biomarker concentration measurements revealed a diversity of sources over time, the complex mixture of POC associated with peak discharge dominated the flux of material downstream. This study highlights the complexity of storm-initiated C-transport and the need for high spaciotemporal resolution broad spectrum tracer studies in the future.

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“…This treatment is designated hereafter as Contour Tillage-High Intensity (CT-HI). Note: Methods used in soil analysis: a pipette method [59]; b ring method [60]; c elemental analyzer [31]; d 1:2 soil water [61].…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An extensive literature survey reveals that the following key approaches have been used to quantify the role of management on soil aggregate size characteristics and stability: (1) the use of dry sieving [22][23][24] in order to make inferences regarding the degree of abrasion to the soil triggered by tillage and, thus, its quality [25,26], and (2) the use of rainfall simulation or wet sieving tests, in order to account for the rate of wetting on the slaking and breakdown of soil aggregates [10,15,16,[27][28][29][30][31]. Rainfall simulation tests are preferred against wet sieving tests, when trying to mimic breakdown under applied raindrop kinetic energy [6,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Hydraulic Connectivity and Management on Soil Aggregate Size and Stability in the Clear Creek Watershed, Iowa

et al. 2018

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The role of tillage practices on soil aggregate properties has been mainly addressed at the pedon scale (i.e., soilscape scale) by treating landscape elements as disconnected. However, there is observed heterogeneity in aggregate properties along flowpaths, suggesting that landscape scale hydraulic processes are also important. This study examines this supposition using field, laboratory and modeling analysis to assess aggregate size and stability along flowpaths under different management conditions: (1) tillage-induced abrasion effects on aggregate size were evaluated with the dry mean weight diameter (DMWD); (2) raindrop impact effects were evaluated with small macroaggregate stability (SMAGG STAB ) using rainfall simulators; and (3) these aggregate proxies were studied in the context of connectivity through the excess bed shear stress (δ), quantified using a physically-based landscape model. DMWD and SMAGG STAB decreased along the flowpaths for all managements, and a negative correspondence between the proxies and δ was observed.δ captured roughness effects on connectivity along the flowpaths: highest connectivity was noted for parallel-ridge-till flowpaths, where δ ranged from 0-8.2 Pa, and lowest connectivity for contour-ridge-till flowpaths, where δ ranged from 0-1.1 Pa. High tillage intensity likely led to an increase in aggregate susceptibility to hydraulic forcing, reflected in the higher gradients of aggregate size and stability trendlines with respect to δ. Finally, a linear relationship between DMWD and SMAGG STAB was established.

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Control of tillage disturbance on the chemistry and proportion of raindrop-liberated particles from soil aggregates

Cited by 23 publications

References 70 publications

The impact of tillage row orientation on physical and chemical sediment enrichment

The impact of tillage row orientation on physical and chemical sediment enrichment

Storm-Induced Dynamics of Particulate Organic Carbon in Clear Creek, Iowa: An Intensively Managed Landscape Critical Zone Observatory Story

The Role of Hydraulic Connectivity and Management on Soil Aggregate Size and Stability in the Clear Creek Watershed, Iowa

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