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Forested areas are assumed not to be influenced by erosion processes. However, forest soils of Northern Germany in a hummocky ground moraine landscape can sometimes exhibit a very shallow thickness on crest positions and buried soils on slope positions. The question consequently is: Are these on-going or ancient erosional and depositional processes? Plutonium isotopes act as soil erosion/deposition tracers for recent (last few decades) processes. Here, we quantified the 239+240PU inventories in a small, forested catchment (ancient forest "Melzower Forst", deciduous trees), which is characterised by a hummocky terrain including a kettle hole. Soil development depths (depth to C horizon) and 239+240PU inventories along a catena of sixteen different profiles were determined and correlated to relief parameters. Moreover, we compared different modelling approaches to derive erosion rates from Pu data. <br /> We find a strong relationship between soil development depths, distance-to-sink and topography along the catena. Fully developed Retisols (thicknesses > 1 m) in the colluvium overlay old land surfaces as documented by fossil Ah horizons. However, we found no relationship of Pu-based erosion rates to any relief parameter. Instead, 239+240PU inventories showed a very high local, spatial variability (36-70 Bq m(-2)). Low annual rainfall, spatially distributed interception and stem flow might explain the high variability of the 239+240PU inventories, giving rise to a patchy input pattern. Different models resulted in quite similar erosion and deposition rates (max: -5 t ha(-1) yr(-1) to +7.3 t ha(-1) yr(-1)). Although some rates are rather high, the magnitude of soil erosion and deposition - in terms of soil thickness change - is negligible during the last 55 years. The partially high values are an effect of the patchy Pu deposition on the forest floor. This forest has been protected for at least 240 years. Therefore rather natural events and anthropogenic activities during medieval times or even earlier must have caused the observed soil pattern, which documents strong erosion and deposition processes.
Two principal groups of processes shape mass fluxes from and into a soil: vertical profile development and lateral soil redistribution. Periods having predominantly progressive soil forming processes (soil profile development) alternate with periods having predominantly regressive processes (erosion). As a result, short‐term soil redistribution – years to decades – can differ substantially from long‐term soil redistribution; i.e. centuries to millennia. However, the quantification of these processes is difficult and consequently their rates are poorly understood. To assess the competing roles of erosion and deposition we determined short‐ and long‐term soil redistribution rates in a formerly glaciated area of the Uckermark, northeast Germany. We compared short‐term erosion or accumulation rates using plutonium‐239 and ‐240 (239+240Pu) and long‐term rates using both in situ and meteoric cosmogenic beryllium‐10 (10Be). Three characteristic process domains have been analysed in detail: a flat landscape position having no erosion/deposition, an erosion‐dominated mid‐slope, and a deposition‐dominated lower‐slope site. We show that the short‐term mass erosion and accumulation rates are about one order of magnitude higher than long‐term redistribution rates. Both, in situ and meteoric 10Be provide comparable results. Depth functions, and therefore not only an average value of the topsoil, give the most meaningful rates. The long‐term soil redistribution rates were in the range of −2.1 t ha‐1 yr‐1 (erosion) and +0.26 t ha‐1 yr‐1 (accumulation) whereas the short‐term erosion rates indicated strong erosion of up to 25 t ha‐1 yr‐1 and accumulation of 7.6 t ha‐1 yr‐1. Our multi‐isotope method identifies periods of erosion and deposition, confirming the ‘time‐split approach’ of distinct different phases (progressive/regressive) in soil evolution. With such an approach, temporally‐changing processes can be disentangled, which allows the identification of both the dimensions of and the increase in soil erosion due to human influence
The global warming potential of nitrous oxide (N2O) and its long atmospheric lifetime mean its presence in the atmosphere is of major concern, and that methods are required to measure and reduce emissions. Large spatial and temporal variations means, however, that simple extrapolation of measured data is inappropriate, and that other methods of quantification are required. Although process-based models have been developed to simulate these emissions, they often require a large amount of input data that is not available at a regional scale, making regional and global emission estimates difficult to achieve. The spatial extent of organic soils means that quantification of emissions from these soil types is also required, but will not be achievable using a process-based model that has not been developed to simulate soil water contents above field capacity or organic soils. The ECOSSE model was developed to overcome these limitations, and with a requirement for only input data that is readily available at a regional scale, it can be used to quantify regional emissions and directly inform land-use change decisions. ECOSSE includes the major processes of nitrogen (N) turnover, with material being exchanged between pools of SOM at rates modified by temperature, soil moisture, soil pH and crop cover. Evaluation of its performance at site-scale is presented to demonstrate its ability to adequately simulate soil N contents and N2O emissions from cropland soils in Europe. Mitigation scenarios and sensitivity analyses are also presented to demonstrate how ECOSSE can be used to estimate the impact of future climate and land-use change on N2O emissions.