Arable soil formation and erosion: a hillslope-based cosmogenic nuclide study in the United Kingdom
Arable soil formation and erosion: a hillslope-based cosmogenic nuclide study in the United Kingdom
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DOI：
10.5194/soil-5-253-2019
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发表时间：
2019-03
期刊：
影响因子：
6.8
通讯作者：
D. Evans;J. Quinton;A. Tye;Á. Rodés;J. Davies;S. Mudd;T. Quine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Evans;J. Quinton;A. Tye;Á. Rodés;J. Davies;S. Mudd;T. Quine
抽象的。耕地是支持多种生态系统服务的重要资源。然而，它们经常受到加速侵蚀的威胁。因此，确保他们长期安全的政策是一个紧迫的社会优先事项。虽然它们的长期安全依赖于土壤流失率和土壤形成率之间的平衡，但很少有对支持可耕地农业的土壤形成率的调查。本文解决了这一知识差距，提出了第一个同位素限制土壤形成率的耕地（英国诺丁汉郡）和针叶林山坡（什罗普郡，英国）。两个地点的速率范围为0.026至0.096毫米/年。这些比率属于以前公布的温带气候土壤和砂岩岩性的比率范围内，但显着不同，在唯一的其他英国的研究中测量。我们认为这是由于我们场地的母材更容易风化。此外，土壤形成率被认为是最大的风成砂岩相比，河流衍生的岩性提出的问题，在何种程度上的岩石组成的母质支配土壤形成率。在目前支持可耕地农业的山坡上，我们利用宇宙成因衍生的土壤形成和侵蚀速率的一阶寿命模型，并发现，在最坏的情况下，后坡A层可以在138年内被侵蚀，基岩暴露发生在212年，在目前的管理制度。这些发现代表了英国耕地土壤寿命的首次定量估计。
Abstract. Arable soils are critical resources that support multiple ecosystem services. They are frequently threatened, however, by accelerated erosion. Subsequently, policy to ensure their long-term security is an urgent societal priority. Although their long-term security relies upon a balance between the rates of soil loss and formation, there have been few investigations of the formation rates of soils supporting arable agriculture. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by presenting the first isotopically constrained soil formation rates for an arable (Nottinghamshire, UK) and coniferous woodland hillslope (Shropshire, UK). Rates ranged from 0.026 to 0.096 mm yr−1 across the two sites. These rates fall within the range of previously published rates for soils in temperate climates and on sandstone lithologies but significantly differed from those measured in the only other UK-based study. We suggest this is due to the parent material at our sites being more susceptible to weathering. Furthermore, soil formation rates were found to be greatest for aeolian-derived sandstone when compared with fluvially derived lithology raising questions about the extent to which the petrographic composition of the parent material governs rates of soil formation. On the hillslope currently supporting arable agriculture, we utilized cosmogenically derived rates of soil formation and erosion in a first-order lifespan model and found, in a worst-case scenario, that the backslope A horizon could be eroded in 138 years with bedrock exposure occurring in 212 years under the current management regime. These findings represent the first quantitative estimate of cultivated soil lifespans in the UK.