Water-soluble organic carbon release from mineral soils and sediments in an irrigated agricultural system
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Open Access Version: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Water interactions with soil and vegetation are greatly altered in agricultural watersheds compared to natural landscapes, which impacts sources and fates of organic carbon (OC). While mineral soil horizons in natural ecosystems primarily act as filters for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leached from organic surface horizons, tilled soils largely lack an organic horizon and their mineral horizons therefore act as a source for both DOC and sediment to surface waters. Irrigated watersheds highlight this difference, as DOC and total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations simultaneously increase during the low-discharge irrigation season, suggesting that sediment-associated OC may constitute a significant source of DOC. While water-soluble OC (WSOC) from sediments and soils has been found to be compositionally similar to stream DOC, these contributions remain poorly quantified in agricultural streams. To address this, we conducted abiotic solubilization experiments using sediments (suspended and bed) and soils from an irrigated agricultural watershed in northern California, USA. Sediments (R2 > 0.99) and soils (0.74 < R2 < 0.89) displayed linear solubilization behaviors over the range of concentrations tested. Suspended sediment from the irrigation season exhibited the largest solubilization efficiency (10.9 ± 1.6% TOCsediment solubilized) and potential (1.79 ± 0.26 mg WSOC g−1 dry sediment), followed by suspended sediment from a winter storm, then bed sediment and soils. Successive solubilization experiments increased the total release of WSOC by ∼50%, but most (88–97%) of the solid-phase OC remained insoluble in water. Using these solubilization potential estimates and measured TSS concentrations, we estimated that WSOC from suspended sediment in streams represented 4–7% of the annual DOC export from the watershed. However, field sediment export is much higher than what is represented by suspended sediment in the water column, therefore field-scale contributions from sediments could be much higher than estimated.
Suggested Citation
Matiasek, S.J., Pellerin, B.A., Spencer, R.G., Bergamaschi, B.A., and Hernes, P.J., 2023, Water-soluble organic carbon release from mineral soils and sediments in an irrigated agricultural system: Journal of Environmental Management, no. 343, 118184, 12 p., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118184.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Water-soluble organic carbon release from mineral soils and sediments in an irrigated agricultural system |
| Series title | Journal of Environmental Management |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118184 |
| Issue | 343 |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Contributing office(s) | California Water Science Center |
| Description | 118184, 12 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Other Geospatial | Sacramento River Valley, Willow Slough watershed |