In:
SOIL, Copernicus GmbH, Vol. 6, No. 2 ( 2020-11-16), p. 549-564
Abstract:
Abstract. Soil redistribution on arable land is a major threat for a sustainable use
of soil resources. The majority of soil redistribution studies focus on
water erosion, while wind and tillage erosion also induce pronounced
redistribution of soil materials. Tillage erosion especially is understudied, as it does not lead to visible off-site damages. The analysis
of on-site/in-field soil redistribution is mostly based on tracer studies,
where radionuclide tracers (e.g. 137Cs, 239+240Pu) from nuclear
weapon tests are commonly used to derive the erosion history over the past
50–60 years. Tracer studies allow us to determine soil redistribution patterns but integrate all types of soil redistribution processes and hence do not
allow us to unravel the contribution of individual erosion processes. The aim of this study is to understand the contribution of water and tillage erosion
leading to soil patterns found in a small hummocky ground moraine kettle
hole catchment under intensive agricultural use. Therefore, 239+240Pu-derived soil redistribution patterns were analysed using an inverse
modelling approach accounting for water and tillage erosion processes. The
results of this analysis clearly point out that tillage erosion is the
dominant process of soil redistribution in the study catchment, which also
affects the hydrological and sedimentological connectivity between arable
land and the kettle hole. A topographic change up to 17 cm (53 yr)−1 in
the eroded parts of the catchment is not able to explain the current soil
profile truncation that exceeds the 239+240Pu-derived topographic change substantially. Hence, tillage erosion already started before the
onset of intense mechanisation since the 1960s. In general, the study
stresses the urgent need to consider tillage erosion as a major soil
degradation process that can be the dominant soil redistribution process in
sloped arable landscapes.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2199-398X
DOI:
10.5194/soil-6-549-2020
Language:
English
Publisher:
Copernicus GmbH
Publication Date:
2020
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2834892-8
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