Short‐ and long‐term legacies of carbon sequestration, and nutrient burial in floodplain wetlands of agricultural and forested catchments, Indiana, United States

Abstract

Abstract Soil organic carbon (C) sequestration and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) burial were measured in two floodplain wetlands' soils of the West Fork of the White River watershed (Indiana, United States) whose catchments differed in land use to better understand how land use practices affect wetland C and nutrient retention. The catchment of one floodplain, Upper West Fork, is dominated by row crop agriculture (61%) whereas the second catchment, Beanblossom Creek, is mostly forested (85%). Soils (0–30 cm) of the two floodplain wetlands had similar bulk density (1.23 g/cm3). Soil organic C and N were low in both floodplains but the percent organic C and N was two times greater (3.3% C, 0.22% N) in the agricultural floodplain than in the floodplain in the forested catchment (1.5% C, 0.14% N). Soil P was three times greater in the agricultural (1100 μg/g) than in the forested floodplain (350 μg/g). Recent soil accretion based on 137Cs which provides a historical record since 1964 (60 years), was two times greater in the agricultural floodplain (2.2 mm/year) than in the forested catchment (1.0 mm/year). Sediment deposition (2500 g/m2/year), C sequestration (90 g/m2/year), and N burial (7.5 g/m2/year) were three times greater in the agricultural floodplain and P burial was seven times greater (3.0 vs. 0.41 g/m2/year). Long‐term measurements (100 years) based on 210Pb did not show large differences in C sequestration and N burial between the two floodplains though soil accretion and sediment deposition were greater in the forested floodplain. We attribute these higher rates to greater erosion in the watershed before 1950 when the catchment had more agricultural land and before instruction on best management practices to reduce soil erosion. These findings confirm previously published studies that show that P enrichment and accumulation in floodplain soils represent legacy effects of agricultural land use in the catchment.

Keywords

• carbon sequestration
• land use
• organic matter
• soil accretion
• wetlands