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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Booneville, Arkansas » Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415352
Research Project: Innovations for Small Farms Pasture and Silvopasture

Location: Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center

Title: Revealing topsoil behavior to compaction from mining field observations

Author
item RITCHER-DE-FORES, ANNE - Inrae
item ARROUAYS, DOMINIQUE - Inrae
item Libohova, Zamir
item CHEN, SONGCHAO - Zhejiang University
item BEAUDETTE, DYLAN - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item BOURENNANE, HOCINE - Inrae

Submitted to: Land
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/19/2024
Publication Date: 6/22/2024
Citation: Ritcher-De-Fores, A.C., Arrouays, D., Libohova, Z., Chen, S., Beaudette, D.E., Bourennane, H. 2024. Revealing topsoil behavior to compaction from mining field observations. Land. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13070909.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/land13070909

Interpretive Summary: Soil compaction affects water movement and multiple agricultural practices. However, measuring of soil compactness is difficult because it changes fast with time due to field traffic from animals and machinery and it is difficult and expensive to measure. Many field soil observations collected by field surveyors are often not utilized for assessing soil behavior to compactness. Such data when combined with other laboratory analysis can be useful to assess the soil behavior and response to compaction. In this study, we combined data collected in the field with laboratory analysis to assess surface soil behavior/response to compaction. Six classes of soil compactness degree from field and laboratory data were developed and used to asses soil behavior to compactness. The classification of soil compactness and soil response to compactness will help farmers manage field traffic and avoid soil degradation and excessive runoff of fertilizers and pesticides.

Technical Abstract: Soils are a finite resource that is under threat, mainly due to human pressure. Therefore, there is an urgent need to produce maps of soil properties, functions and behaviors that can support proper land management and various stakeholders’ decisions. Compaction is a major threat to soil functions, such as water infiltration and storage and and crops root growth. However, there is no general agreement on a universal and easy-to-implement indicator of soil susceptibility to compaction. In addition, the proposed indicators require numerous analytical determinations that are cost prohibitive. In this study, we used legacy data on numerous in situ topsoil observations conducted in the framework of conventional soil survey and we compared field observations to usual indicators of soil compactness. After unraveling the relationships between field estimates of soil compactness degree and some measured properties, we distinguished six clusters of topsoil behaviors using hierarchical clustering. We demonstrate and discuss the usefulness of field observations to assess topsoil behavior to compaction .