TY - JOUR
T1 - The Fernow watershed acidification study
T2 - Ecosystem acidification, nitrogen saturation and base cation leaching
AU - Adams, Mary Beth
AU - Kochenderfer, James N.
AU - Edwards, Pamela J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This experiment was planned and conducted largely by personnel of the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station at Parsons, West Virginia, USA, with initial funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Subsequent support by the USDA Forest Service Northern Global Change Program, and the National Science Foundation’s Long-term Research in Environmental Biology Program are also acknowledged.
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - In 1989, a watershed acidification experiment was begun on the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, USA. Ammonium sulfate fertilizer (35.5 kg N ha-1 yr-1and 40.5 kg S ha-1 yr-1) was applied to a forested watershed (WS3) that supported a 20-year-old stand of eastern deciduous hardwoods. Additions of N and S are approximately twice the ambient deposition of nitrogen and sulfur in the adjacent mature forested watershed (WS4), that serves as the reference watershed for this study. Acidification of stream water and soil solution was documented, although the response was delayed, and acidification processes appeared to be driven by nitrate rather than sulfate. As a result of the acidification treatment, nitrate solution concentrations increased below all soil layers, whereas sulfate was retained by all soil layers after only a few years of the fertilization treatments, perhaps due to adsorption induced from decreasing sulfate deposition. Based on soil solution monitoring, depletion of calcium and magnesium was observed, first from the upper soil horizons and later from the lower soil horizons. Increased base cation concentrations in stream water also were documented and linked closely with high solution levels of nitrate. Significant changes in soil chemical properties were not detected after 12 years of treatment, however.
AB - In 1989, a watershed acidification experiment was begun on the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, USA. Ammonium sulfate fertilizer (35.5 kg N ha-1 yr-1and 40.5 kg S ha-1 yr-1) was applied to a forested watershed (WS3) that supported a 20-year-old stand of eastern deciduous hardwoods. Additions of N and S are approximately twice the ambient deposition of nitrogen and sulfur in the adjacent mature forested watershed (WS4), that serves as the reference watershed for this study. Acidification of stream water and soil solution was documented, although the response was delayed, and acidification processes appeared to be driven by nitrate rather than sulfate. As a result of the acidification treatment, nitrate solution concentrations increased below all soil layers, whereas sulfate was retained by all soil layers after only a few years of the fertilization treatments, perhaps due to adsorption induced from decreasing sulfate deposition. Based on soil solution monitoring, depletion of calcium and magnesium was observed, first from the upper soil horizons and later from the lower soil horizons. Increased base cation concentrations in stream water also were documented and linked closely with high solution levels of nitrate. Significant changes in soil chemical properties were not detected after 12 years of treatment, however.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247612896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34247612896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11267-006-9062-1
DO - 10.1007/s11267-006-9062-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34247612896
SN - 1567-7230
VL - 7
SP - 267
EP - 273
JO - Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus
JF - Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus
IS - 1-3
ER -