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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97927
Title: SOLUM CHANGES IN A GLACIAL TILL LANDSCAPE DUE TO EROSION AND DEPOSITION

Author
item Lindstrom, Michael
item SCHUMACHER, T - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV.
item SCHUMACHER, J - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV.

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The process of soil erosion has the potential to change solum properties through the action of detachment and transport of surface soil material and the deposition of eroded material onto the soil surface. Soil detachment and transport results in a decline in quality of soil properties in situations where the underlying soil material is of lower quality than the eroded material. Soil deposition, however, may improve, degrade, or have little effect on soil properties depending on the solum properties at depositional sites and the properties of the deposited soil. The objective of this study was to examine solum properties under intensively tilled crop production systems and compare the observed properties with soil series mapping units reported by the USDA-Soil Conservation Service in 1971. Transects of soil elevation were measured at 5 m horizontal increments over three landscapes in west central Minnesota. At each elevation measurement site, a 1 m soil core was taken for determination of solum properties. The comparison between the observed solum properties to reported mapping units indicated a high degree of soil translocation. The degree of soil erosion or deposition at specific landscape positions was estimated from measured depths to diagnostic horizons. Tillage translocation could account for the majority of solum changes in the shoulder and footslope landscape positions. Exposure of free calcium carbonate present in the subsoil of the soil series located in the shoulder position could be identified throughout a large portion of the transects. Movement of the free calcium carbonate was observed both in the upslope and downslope directions indicating that although net soil translocation from tillage is in the downslope direction, a mixing of the tilled layer will occur in all directions.