Tuesday, November 6, 2007
215-6
Solute Transport and Nitrogen Mineralization on a Harvested Hillslope in the Southern Appalachians.
Erin Moore, Virginia Tech Department of Forestry, Blacksburg, VA 24060, Stephen H. Schoenholtz, Forestry Dept., Virginia Tech, 210 Cheatham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, and Jennifer Knoepp, USDA-FS (Forest Service), USDA-Forest Service, SRS, 3160 Coweeta Lab Rd., Otto, NC 28763.
Transport of dissolved nitrogen and carbon following forest harvesting on steep slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the role of riparian buffers in this transport are poorly understood. To quantify the movement of these two solutes on a recently harvested hillslope in the southern Appalachians, four transects of lysimeters were installed across harvested areas and within a 10-m-riparian buffer. Porous ceramic- cup lysimeters were installed in each transect 1, 4, 10, 16, 30, and 50 m away from the stream in the A horizon, B horizon, and saprolite layer. Samples are being collected monthly for one year beginning March 2007. In order to explain potential patterns of dissolved nitrogen on the hillslope and riparian zone, a nitrogen mineralization potential and leaching potential study is being conducted on the A horizon soils. Preliminary results will be presented.