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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #118321
Title: DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC SOIL CARBON IN AN ERODED PRAIRIE LANDSCAPE

Author
item Lindstrom, Michael
item SCHUMACHER, T - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item MALO, D - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/8/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The combined effects of soil erosion by wind, water, or tillage and soil redistribution and mixing by tillage within the tilled layer can have a substantial effect on soil properties and crop production potentials. This study was conducted to determine the relative variation in productivity of soils that are the result of long-term application of intensive tillage on a typical landscape found in the western Corn Belt, USA. Transects were established across a four ha area exhibiting evidence of prior erosion in a larger field located in west central Minnesota with a long history of a moldboard plow-based tillage management system. Detailed soil profile descriptions along with chemical analysis for total carbon, inorganic carbon, and pH were measured by soil horizons at 10 m intervals along the established transects. Plant available nutrients were measured within the tilled layer. Soil redistribution rates for a moldboard plow, tandem disk tillage sequence were calculated for the study area using the Tillage Erosion Prediction (TEP) model. A reduction in soil organic carbon was observed in field areas susceptible to high rates of tillage erosion. Exposure of subsoil material from tillage erosion and subsequent soil redistribution and mixing of subsoil material in adjacent landscape positions was evident by the increase in the calcium carbonate equivalence measured across the landscape. The reduction in soil organic carbon content and the increase in inorganic carbon content of the tilled layer negatively affected measured crop production on this complex prairie landscape.