More Like this

1. Predicting soil carbon loss with warming

   https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25745  

   van Gestel, Natasja; Shi, Zheng; van Groenigen, Kees Jan; Osenberg, Craig W.; Andresen, Louise C.; Dukes, Jeffrey S.; Hovenden, Mark J.; Luo, Yiqi; Michelsen, Anders; Pendall, Elise; et al (February 2018, Nature)
2. Soil Loss Risk Analysis for Construction Activities

   https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981221075027  

   Kazaz, Billur; Schussler, Jaime C.; Dickey, Loulou C.; Perez, Michael A. (June 2022, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board)

   Construction-related ground-disturbing activities leave exposed land susceptible to soil loss and increase the risk of polluting adjacent waterbodies with sediment-laden discharge. State and federal regulations require stormwater pollution prevention plans to be implemented during construction to mitigate the impact of stormwater runoff. Areas prone to soil loss can be identified early in site planning using soil loss modeling. Identification of these critical areas could influence the design and placement of erosion and sediment control practices. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) can be applied to estimate the soil loss on construction sites in tonnes per Ha per year (tons/acre/year) by considering factors of rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, length of slope, erosion control, and sediment control. This study integrates geographic information system (GIS) with RUSLE to create soil loss models for residential, commercial, and highway construction scenarios in the contiguous U.S.A. These three construction types were modeled in various locations throughout the country to assess erosive risk. Soil loss outputs were categorized into five risk tiers ranging from very low to very high. Southeastern states had the highest estimated soil loss during residential, commercial, and highway construction, reaching rates of 1,464, 706, and 1,302 tonnes per Ha per year (653, 315, and 581 tons/acre/year), respectively. This study provides a customizable model for any site-specific slope-length factor outside of the three construction scenarios modeled. Integration of GIS provides a unique opportunity to apply RUSLE across a larger landscape. The presented macro-scale data can be used for the design of erosion and sediment control practices. 

   more » « less
3. Climate Effects on Subsoil Carbon Loss Mediated by Soil Chemistry

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04909  

   Possinger, Angela R.; Weiglein, Tyler L.; Bowman, Maggie M.; Gallo, Adrian C.; Hatten, Jeff A.; Heckman, Katherine A.; Matosziuk, Lauren M.; Nave, Lucas E.; SanClements, Michael D.; Swanston, Christopher W.; et al (November 2021, Environmental Science & Technology)
4. The extent of soil loss across the US Corn Belt

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922375118  

   Thaler, Evan A.; Larsen, Isaac J.; Yu, Qian (February 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Soil erosion in agricultural landscapes reduces crop yields, leads to loss of ecosystem services, and influences the global carbon cycle. Despite decades of soil erosion research, the magnitude of historical soil loss remains poorly quantified across large agricultural regions because preagricultural soil data are rare, and it is challenging to extrapolate local-scale erosion observations across time and space. Here we focus on the Corn Belt of the midwestern United States and use a remote-sensing method to map areas in agricultural fields that have no remaining organic carbon-rich A-horizon. We use satellite and LiDAR data to develop a relationship between A-horizon loss and topographic curvature and then use topographic data to scale-up soil loss predictions across 3.9 × 10⁵km²of the Corn Belt. Our results indicate that 35 ± 11% of the cultivated area has lost A-horizon soil and that prior estimates of soil degradation from soil survey-based methods have significantly underestimated A-horizon soil loss. Convex hilltops throughout the region are often completely denuded of A-horizon soil. The association between soil loss and convex topography indicates that tillage-induced erosion is an important driver of soil loss, yet tillage erosion is not simulated in models used to assess nationwide soil loss trends in the United States. We estimate that A-horizon loss decreases crop yields by 6 ± 2%, causing $2.8 ± $0.9 billion in annual economic losses. Regionally, we estimate 1.4 ± 0.5 Pg of carbon have been removed from hillslopes by erosion of the A-horizon, much of which likely remains buried in depositional areas within the fields. 

   more » « less
5. Perennialization and Cover Cropping Mitigate Soil Carbon Loss from Residue Harvesting

   https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2017.04.0177  

   Jones, Curtis D.; Oates, Lawrence G.; Robertson, G. Philip; Izaurralde, R. Cesar (January 2018, Journal of Environment Quality)