Title: Soil <scp><scp>C</scp></scp> erosion and burial in cropland
Abstract: Abstract Erosion influences the lateral and vertical distribution of soil in agricultural landscapes. A better understanding of the effects of erosion and redistribution on soil organic carbon ( C ) within croplands would improve our knowledge of how management practices may affect global C dynamics. In this study, the vertical and lateral distribution of soil organic C was characterized to evaluate the amounts and timescales of soil organic C movement, deposition and burial over the last 50 years in different agroecosystems across C anada. There was strong evidence that a substantial portion of eroded sediment and soil organic C was deposited as colluvium close to its source area, thereby burying the original topsoil. The deepest aggraded profile was in a potato field and contained over 70 cm of deposited soil indicating an accumulation rate of 152 Mg ha yr −1 ; aggraded profiles in other sites had soil deposition rates of 40–90 Mg ha −1 yr −1 . The largest stock of soil organic C was 463 Mg ha −1 (to 60 cm depth) and soil C deposition ranged from about 2 to 4 Mg ha −1 yr −1 across all sites. A distinct feature observed in the aggraded profiles at every site was the presence of a large increase in soil organic C concentration near the bottom of the A horizon; the concentration of this C was greater than that at the soil surface. Compared to aggraded profiles, the SOC concentration in eroded profiles did not differ with depth, suggesting that dynamic replacement of soil organic C had occurred in eroded soils. A large amount of soil organic C is buried in depositional areas of C anadian croplands; mineralization of this stock of C appears to have been constrained since burial, but it may be vulnerable to future loss by management practices, land use change and a warming climate.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-12-30
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 87
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