David Norris

Evidence against recent climate‐induced destabilisation of soil carbon from 14C analysis of riverine dissolved organic matter

[1]xa0The stability of global soil carbon (C) represents a major uncertainty in forecasting future climate change. In the UK, substantial soil C losses have been reported, while at the same time dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in upland waters have increased, suggesting that soil C stocks may be destabilising in response to climate change. To investigate the link between soil carbon and DOC at a range of sites, soil organic matter, soilwater and streamwater DOC were analysed for radiocarbon (14C). DOC exported from C-rich landscapes appears younger than the soil C itself, much of it comprising C assimilated post-1950s. DOC from more intensively managed, C-poor soils is older, in some cases >100 years. Results appear consistent with soil C destabilisation in farmed landscapes, but not in peatlands. Reported C losses may to a significant extent be explained by mechanisms other than climate change, e.g. recovery from acidification in peatlands, and agricultural intensification in managed systems.

Evidence that soil carbon pool determines susceptibility of semi-natural ecosystems to elevated nitrogen leaching

Deposition of reactive nitrogen (N) compounds has the potential to cause severe damage to sensitive soils and waters, but the process of ‘nitrogen saturation’ is difficult to demonstrate or predict. This study compares outputs from a simple carbon–nitrogen model with observations of (1) regional- and catchment-scale relationships between surface water nitrate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), as an indicator of catchment carbon (C) pool; (2) inter-regional variations in soil C/N ratios; and (3) plot scale soil and leachate response to long-term N additions, for a range of UK moorlands. Results suggest that the simple model applied can effectively reproduce observed patterns, and that organic soil C stores provide a critical control on catchment susceptibility to enhanced N leaching, leading to high spatial variability in the extent and severity of current damage within regions of relatively uniform deposition. Results also support the hypothesis that the N richness of organic soils, expressed as C/N ratio, provides an effective indicator of soil susceptibility to enhanced N leaching. The extent to which current C/N is influenced by N deposition, as opposed to factors such as climate and vegetation type, cannot be unequivocally determined on the basis of spatial data. However, N addition experiments at moorland sites have shown a reduction in organic soil C/N. A full understanding of the mechanisms of N-enrichment of soils and waters is essential to the assessment of current sensitivity to, and prediction of future damage from, globally increasing reactive nitrogen deposition.

Acid Deposition in Wales: the results of the 1995 Welsh Acid Waters Survey

In 1995, bulk precipitation was sampled at weekly intervals from 25 collectors located across Wales. The precipitation chemistry was dilute, acid (overall mean pH 4.88), and dominated by seasalts with a sodium to chloride ratio close to that of seawater. Seventy percent of the sulphate was from non-seasalt sources and the equivalent ratio of sulphate to nitrate was 1.8. Precipitation chemistry varied spatially with a decrease in the proportion of seasalts but an increasing proportion of excess sulphate with distance eastwards. Seasonal maximum concentrations of seasalts occurred in the first 3 months of the year whilst maximum excess sulphate, nitrate and ammonium concentrations were observed during the summer months. Maps of modelled wet plus dry deposition at 20-km square resolution showed that the acid-sensitive uplands of Snowdonia, the Cambrian mountains and the Brecon Beacons received large inputs of excess sulphur (15–25 kg S ha−1 year−1). Total inorganic nitrogen deposition to much of Wales was between 20 and 25 kg N ha−1 year−1. In 1995, Wales received 32 ktonnes of excess sulphur and 42 ktonnes of inorganic nitrogen equivalent to 9 and 11%, respectively, of the UK total deposition (based on 1992–94 figures). Nitrogen deposition contributed 60% of the total acidifying input to Wales. Since the first survey in 1984, the overall mean total sulphate concentration in rainfall has declined by about 28% to 2 mg litre−1; comparable to changes at long-term monitoring sites. Nitrate concentrations also declined by 18% to 0.23 mg N litre−1 whilst there was no statistically significant change in ammonium concentrations. Between 1984 and 1995, wet deposition of total sulphur to Wales decreased by 22% from 36 to 28 ktonnes, whilst wet deposited inorganic nitrogen declined from 27 to 22 ktonnes. These intensive regional data from the far west of Europe provide valuable insight into current deposition trends and the relative importance of sulphur and nitrogen deposition to acidification.

Hydrology and water quality of the headwaters of the River Severn: stream acidity recovery and interactions with plantation forestry under an improving pollution climate.

This paper presents new information on the hydrology and water quality of the eroding peatland headwaters of the River Severn in mid-Wales and links it to the impact of plantation conifer forestry further down the catchment. The Upper Hafren is dominated by low-growing peatland vegetation, with an average annual precipitation of around 2650 mm with around 250 mm evaporation. With low catchment permeability, stream response to rainfall is flashy with the rising limb to peak stormflow typically under an hour. The water quality is characteristically dilute; stormflow is acidic and enriched in aluminium and iron from the acid organic soil inputs. Baseflow is circum-neutral and calcium and bicarbonate bearing due to the inputs of groundwater enriched from weathering of the underlying rocks. Annual cycling is observed for the nutrients reflecting uptake and decomposition processes linked to the vegetation and for arsenic implying seasonal water-logging within the peat soils and underlying glacial drift. Over the decadal scale, sulphate and nitrate concentrations have declined while Gran alkalinity, dissolved organic carbon and iron have increased, indicating a reduction in stream acidification. Within the forested areas the water quality is slightly more concentrated and acidic, transgressing the boundary for acid neutralisation capacity as a threshold for biological damage. Annual sulphate and aluminium concentrations are double those observed in the Upper Hafren, reflecting the influence of forestry and the greater ability of trees to scavenge pollutant inputs from gaseous and mist/cloud-water sources compared to short vegetation. Acidification is decreasing more rapidly in the forest compared to the eroding peatland possibly due to the progressive harvesting of the mature forest reducing the scavenging of acidifying inputs. For the Lower Hafren, long-term average annual precipitation is slightly lower, with lower average altitude, at around 2520mm and evaporation is around double that of the Upper Hafren.

Mercury in United Kingdom topsoils; concentrations, pools, and Critical Limit exceedances

The median total mercury concentration in 898 UK rural topsoils, sampled between 1998 and 2008, was 0.095 μg g(-1). Approximate adjustment for unreactive metal produced an estimate of 0.052 μg g(-1) for reactive Hg. The highest concentrations were in the north and west, where organic-rich soils with low bulk densities dominate, but the spatial pattern was quite different if soil Hg pools (mg m(-2)) were considered, the highest values being near to the industrial north of England and London. Possible toxic effects of Hg were best evaluated by comparison with soil Critical Limits expressed as ratios of Hg to soil organic matter, or soil solution Hg(2+) concentrations, estimated by chemical speciation modelling. Only a few percent of the rural UK soils showed exceedance, and this also applied to rural soils from the whole of Europe. UK urban and industrial soils had higher Hg concentrations and more cases of exceedance.

Rapid immobilisation and leaching of wet-deposited nitrate in upland organic soils

Nitrate (NO3-) is often observed in surface waters draining terrestrial ecosystems that remain strongly nitrogen (N) limited. It has been suggested that this occurs due to hydrological bypassing of soil or vegetation N retention, particularly during high flows. To test this hypothesis, artificial rain events were applied to 12 replicate soil blocks on a Welsh podzolic acid grassland hillslope, labelled with 15N-enriched NO3- and a conservative bromide (Br-) tracer. On average, 31% of tracer-labelled water was recovered within 4 h, mostly as mineral horizon lateral flow, indicating rapid vertical water transfer through the organic horizon via preferential flowpaths. However, on average only 6% of 15N-labelled NO3- was recovered. Around 80% of added NO3- was thus rapidly immobilised, probably by microbial communities present on the surfaces of preferential flowpaths. Transitory exceedance of microbial N-uptake capacity during periods of high water and N flux may therefore provide a mechanism for NO3- leaching.

Long-term mercury dynamics in UK soils.

A model assuming first-order losses by evasion and leaching was used to evaluate Hg dynamics in UK soils since 1850. Temporal deposition patterns of Hg were constructed from literature information. Inverse modelling indicated that 30% of 898 rural sites receive Hg only from the global circulation, while in 51% of cases local deposition exceeds global. Average estimated deposition is 16 μg Hg m(-2) a(-1) to rural soils, 19 μg Hg m(-2) a(-1) to rural and non-rural soils combined. UK soils currently hold 2490 tonnes of reactive Hg, of which 2140 tonnes are due to anthropogenic deposition, mostly local in origin. Topsoil currently releases 5.1 tonnes of Hg(0) per annum to the atmosphere, about 50% more than the anthropogenic flux. Sorptive retention of Hg in the lower soil exerts a strong control on surface water Hg concentrations. Following decreases in inputs, soil Hg concentrations are predicted to decline over hundreds of years.

Effects of forest age on surface drainage water and soil solution aluminium chemistry in stagnopodzols in Wales

The influence of forest development on soil solution and surface drainage water aluminium chemistry was investigated in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations in Wales. Comparisons with semi-natural grassland and moorland sites are described. A highly significant positive relationship was shown between increasing forest age and soilwater aluminium concentrations in the B horizons. Shortterm/episodic peaks in Al concentrations were strongly related to incidences of high concentrations of neutral, marine-derived, salts in the soilwater. Nitrification may be an important factor in soil acidification and the mobilization of Al in soilwaters beneath the older mature-forest plantations in Wales. Labile monomeric Al concentrations were largest in surface waters draining the oldest forestry plantations compared with younger forest catchments and moorland, although response to discharge of soilwater acidity to the surface waters at individual sites was dependent on the acid neutralizing capacity of the groundwater component of the surface waters.