The Use of Fly Ash to Determine the Extent of Sediment Transport and Deposition on a Nearly Level Western Illinois Landscape

Impact of soil erosion on soil organic carbon stocks

“…However, if some of this redistributed SOC-rich sediment leaves the landscape unit, it would result in a loss of the transported SOC (across land unit borders) to the water and adjacent landscape by surface runoff or wind erosion or to the atmosphere as CO 2 during the oxidation process, which no longer can be counted as sequestered SOC. Several researchers (Gennadiyev et al 2010;Golosov et al 2011;Olson et al 2011Olson et al , 2012Olson et al , 2013aOlson et al , 2013b) measured the SOC in agricultural landscape units with both eroding and depositional sites. The amount of SOC-rich sediment lost during the erosion process to a depositional unit can be quantified (Kreznor et al 1989(Kreznor et al , 1990(Kreznor et al , 1992Jones and Olson 1990) using the presence of fly ash.…”

“…These losses can result in a lower reported SOC stock or sequestration rate in the eroded agricultural land unit than depositional land unit. Some researchers (Kreznor et al 1992;Olson et al 2011Olson et al , 2013b) measured the SOC on stable uncultivated sod or forested summits, slightly eroded cultivated interfluves, severely eroded side-slopes, and depositional basins (134 Mg C ha -1 [60.9 tn C Figure 1 Fate of soil organic carbon (SOC) transport by erosional processes. Modified and adapted from Lal (2003 ac -1 ]).…”

“…Thus, it is essential to understand the effects of soil erosion in the context of agricultural use, especially in intensive agriculture production systems, where erosion process becomes a driver in establishing C sources and loss as CO 2 rather than a significant contributor to soil C retention within a land unit (Lance et al 1986). Olson et al (2013b) and Young et al (2014) showed that nearly level (<1%) upland agricultural plots were also subject to erosion, transport, and deposition of SOC-rich sediments. It has often assumed that plots with nearly level (<1%) slope gradients have not been significantly affected by erosion.…”

“…Most of the fertile soil is associated with the clay and humus." Change in land use is a major factor affecting the SOC stock, especially in sloping soils prone to erosion, as the land use is changed from native prairie or forest to conventional and erosive row crop agricultural systems (Olson et al 2012(Olson et al , 2013a(Olson et al , 2013b. Franzluebbers and Follett (2005) reported that the SOC stock of timberland and prairie soils declined with cultivation in North America.…”

“…Intensive tillage plays significant role in accelerating soil C loss through oxidation of organic matter, destruction of soil aggregates, and reduction in water infiltration rate leading to significant water erosion and surface runoff of C-rich sediments. Olson et al (2013b) used a fly ash method and determined the SOC concentration of Muscatune and Sable soils for a nearly level (<1%) agricultural plot area located near Monmouth, Illinois. The crop sequence was corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) for the previous 27 years, and plot area had been cultivated for the last 130 years.…”