Retention and Leaching of Elevated N Deposition in a Forest Ecosystem with Gleysols

The responses of nitrogen transformations and nitrate (NO_3 -) leaching to experimentally increased N deposition were studied in forested sub-catchments (1500 m2) with Gleysols in Central Switzerland. The aim was toinvestigate whether the increase in NO3 - leaching,due to elevated N deposition, was hydrologically driven orresulted from N saturation of the forest ecosystem.Three years of continuous N addition at a rate of 30 kgNH4NO3-N ha-1 yr-1 had no effects on bulksoil N, on microbial biomass N, on K2SO4-extractableN concentrations in the soil, and on net nitrification rates.In contrast, N losses from the ecosystem through denitrification and NO3 - leaching increased significantly. Nitrate leaching was 4 kg N ha-1yr-1at an ambient N deposition of 18 kg N ha-1 yr-1.Leaching of NO3 - at elevated N deposition was 8 kg Nha-1 yr-1. Highest NO3 - leaching occurredduring snowmelt. Ammonium was effectively retained within theuppermost centimetres of the soil as shown by the absence ofNH4 + in the soil solution collected with microsuction cups. Quantifying the N fluxes indicated that 80% ofthe added N were retained in the forest ecosystem.Discharge and NO3 - concentrations of the outflow from the sub-catchments responded to rainfall within 30 min. The water chemistry of the sub-catchment outflow showed thatduring storms, a large part of the runoff from this Gleysol derived from precipitation and from water which had interactedonly with the topsoil. This suggests a dominance of near-surface flow and/or preferential transport through this soil. The contact time of the water with the soil matrix wassufficient to retain NH4 +, but insufficient for a complete retention of NO3 -. At this site with soilsclose to water saturation, the increase in NO3 - leaching by 4 kg N ha-1 yr-1 through elevated N inputsappeared to be due to the bypassing of the soil and the rootsystem rather than to a soil-internal N surplu

Upscaling of anisotropy in unsaturated Miller-similar porous media

Geological and pedological processes rarely form isotropic media as is usually assumed in transport studies. Anisotropy at the Darcy or field scale may be detected directly by measuring flow parameters or may become indirectly evident from movement and shape of solute plumes. Anisotropic behavior of a soil at one scale may, in many cases, be related to the presence of lower-scale directional structures. Miller similitude with different pore-scale geometries of the basic element is used to model macroscopic flow and transport behavior. Analytical expressions for the anisotropic conductivity tensor are derived based on the dynamic law that governs the flow problem at the pore scale. The effects of anisotropy on transport parameters are estimated by numerical modeling

Mixing-cell boundary conditions and apparent mass balance errors for advective-dispersive solute transport

In many field or laboratory situations, well-mixed reservoirs like, for instance, injection or detection wells and gas distribution or sampling chambers define boundaries of transport domains. Exchange of solutes or gases across such boundaries can occur through advective or diffusive processes. First we analyzed situations, where the inlet region consists of a well-mixed reservoir, in a systematic way by interpreting them in terms of injection type. Second, we discussed the mass balance errors that seem to appear in case of resident injections. Mixing cells (MC) can be coupled mathematically in different ways to a domain where advective-dispersive transport occurs: by assuming a continuous solute flux at the interface (flux injection, MC-FI), or by assuming a continuous resident concentration (resident injection). In the latter case, the flux leaving the mixing cell can be defined in two ways: either as the value when the interface is approached from the mixing-cell side (MC-RT -), or as the value when it is approached from the column side (MC-RT +). Solutions of these injection types with constant or-in one case-distance-dependent transport parameters were compared to each other as well as to a solution of a two-layer system, where the first layer was characterized by a large dispersion coefficient. These solutions differ mainly at small Peclet numbers. For most real situations, the model for resident injection MC-RI + is considered to be relevant. This type of injection was modeled with a constant or with an exponentially varying dispersion coefficient within the porous medium. A constant dispersion coefficient will be appropriate for gases because of the Eulerian nature of the usually dominating gaseous diffusion coefficient, whereas the asymptotically growing dispersion coefficient will be more appropriate for solutes due to the Lagrangian nature of mechanical dispersion, which evolves only with the fluid flow. Assuming a continuous resident concentration at the interface between a mixing cell and a column, as in case of the MC-RI + model, entails a flux discontinuity. This flux discontinuity arises inherently from the definition of a mixing cell: the mixing process is included in the balance equation, but does not appear in the description of the flux through the mixing cell. There, only convection appears because of the homogeneous concentration within the mixing cell. Thus, the solute flux through a mixing cell in close contact with a transport domain is generally underestimated. This leads to (apparent) mass balance errors, which are often reported for similar situations and erroneously used to judge the validity of such models. Finally, the mixing cell model MC-RI + defines a universal basis regarding the type of solute injection at a boundary. Depending on the mixing cell parameters, it represents, in its limits, flux as well as resident injections. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Visualizing soil compaction based on flow pattern analysis

Soil compaction modifies the pore system, often in the sense of degrading or destroying the soil structure. As a consequence, not only the soil mechanical parameters like the pre-consolidation load or bulk density are being changed, but also the transport properties of the pore system. Compaction induced changes of water infiltrability and availability of water and air to plants and microorganisms may hamper the functioning of the soil environment. We studied the effects of the mechanical impact applied by a sugar beet harvester on soil porosity, bulk density and on the water infiltration regime under field conditions on a sandy loam in Switzerland. Three treatments were compared: multiple vehicle passage, single passage and control (no traffic). Bulk density, total porosity and macroporosity were determined in the laboratory. In the field, a dye tracer solution was homogeneously applied onto the plots of the three treatments. Vertical profiles were prepared and color slide pictures taken with a normal photographic camera. The images were processed by digital image analysis in order to analyze the spatial distribution of the stained areas. An obvious effect of the mechanical impact was an increase of preferential flow. The water was ponding on the soil surface of the trafficked plots and funneled into preferential flow ports, mainly worm burrows. Wetting of the main root zone decreased because a significant fraction of the infiltrating solution bypassed the matrix. The effect was more pronounced in the multiple passage plot than in the single passage plot. These results agree well with the laboratory measurements. In the single passage plot, a significant effect was observed down to a depth of 15 cm. The plot with the multiple passage showed a stronger effect down to greater depth. The laboratory measurements indicate subsoil compaction, which cannot be concluded from the results of the tracer experiments. The flow patterns, on the other hand, visualize the compaction effects and yield qualitative information about compaction induced changes of the infiltration regime of the soil