Transport of trifluralin on wind-eroded sediment

Abstract

Wind erosion is one of the major forms of soil degradation on the Canadian prairies. Particulate matter emanating from agricultural soil can be transported long distances in the atmosphere and, if the soil has significant clay content, would contain particles less than 2 μm in diameter. Particles of this size range have been associated with respiratory health effects in humans and if they have pesticides associated with them the risk of health effects may be increased. A field experiment was conducted near Regina, Saskatchewan, to determine the trifluralin (2,6-dinitro-N,N-dipropyl-4-trifluoromethylaniline) content in wind-eroded sediment from a soil-incorporated application of the herbicide into Regina heavy (71%) clay soil. Three wind erosion events were monitored in which the total estimated soil loss was 62.4 Mg ha-1. The concentration of trifluralin in the winderoded sediment did not show a consistently significant increase with sampler height (10 to 100 cm) and, by implication, decreasing sediment particle size. The concentration of trifluralin in the wind-eroded sediment was lower than that in the incorporation layer and in the surface soil (upper 0.5 to 1 cm). The overall wind erosion loss of trifluralin, as a percent of the amount applied, during three erosion events was 1.4%. The results of this study indicate that human exposure to atmospheric particulate matter, especially in agricultural areas, may simultaneously involve exposure to pesticides. Key words: Trifluralin, wind erosion, wind-eroded sediment, heavy clay

Concentrations of Herbicides in Wetlands on Organic and Minimum‐Tillage Farms

“…In the prairie provinces, pesticides have been widely detected in aquatic ecosystems including wetlands (Donald et al, 1999, 2001; Main et al, 2014), farm dugouts (Grover et al, 1997; Cessna and Elliott, 2004), drinking water reservoirs (Donald et al, 2007), and rivers and streams (Crosley et al, 1998; Rawn et al, 1999; Anderson, 2005; Glozier et al, 2012). Herbicides can enter surface waters situated within the agricultural landscape via the atmosphere through application drift (Wolf et al, 2004), wet (precipitation) and dry (particulate) atmospheric deposition (Hill et al, 2002; Waite et al, 2002, 2005; Yao et al, 2006; Messing et al, 2011), and deposition of wind‐eroded soil (Larney et al, 1999; Cessna et al, 2006). They can also reach surface water bodies from runoff induced by irrigation (Cessna et al, 1994; Elliott and Cessna, 2010), rainfall (Donald et al, 2005), and snowmelt (Nicholaichuk and Grover, 1983; Cessna et al, 2013), and from deposition of water‐eroded soil associated with runoff (Waite et al, 1992).…”

Survey and research frame for ground sediment

“…It takes the sediment movement driven by the rainfall as the main research contents to obtain the erosion spatial and temporal distribution. Many researches (Cessna et al 2006;Odgaard 1993;Riccio et al 2014;Serno et al 2014) focused on the wind sediment, which is driven by wind and belongs to the surface sediment.…”

Comparing the use of the traditional and repeated-sampling-approach of the 137Cs technique in soil erosion estimation

“…Soil erosion is a major cause of soil degradation in arable land, affecting soil properties and landscape processes such as nutrients redistribution, pesticide fate and greenhouse gas emission (e.g., McLauchlan, 2006;Cessna et al, 2006;Li et al, 2007b). To better manage soil erosion, it is necessary to accurately estimate erosion rates.…”