Monday, November 5, 2007
90-6

On Site Applications of New Technologies for Soil Carbon Measurements.

Roberto Izaurralde1, Michael Ebinger2, James B., Reeves3, Charles W. Rice4, Lucian Wielopolski5, Barry A. Francis3, Ronny D. Harris6, Sudeep Mitra7, Allison M. Thomson8, Jorge Etchevers9, Kenneth Sayre10, and Aaron Rappaport11. (1) 8400 Baltimore Ave ., Suite 201, Battelle PNNL, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Lab and U. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740-2496, (2) Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS J495 EES-2, Los Alamos, NM 87545, (3) EMBUL, USDA, Bldg. 306, BARC E, Beltstville, MD 20705, (4) 2701 Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State University, Kansas State University, Department of Agronomy, Manhattan, KS 66506-5501, (5) Bldg 490-D, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Department, Upton, NY 11973, (6) Earth and Environmnetal Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS J495, EES-2, Los Alamos, NM 87545, (7) Environmental Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, (8) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Joint Global Change Research Institute, 8400 Baltimore Ave., Suite 201, College Park, MD 20740, (9) MEXICO,Col.Postgraduados, Laboratorio de Fertilidad de Suelos, Colegio de Postgraduados, Chapingo/Montecillo, 56230, MEXICO, (10) CIMMYT, CIMMYT Apdo. #370, PO Box 60326, Houston, TX 77205-0326, (11) Aaron Rappaport Associates, Bowie, MD 20740

We compare for the first time measurements of soil carbon (C) densities (g C m-2) obtained by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Mid Infra Red Spectroscopy (MIRS), Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS) and dry combustion at field sites in Beltsville, MD and CIMMYT, Mexico. At Beltsville, the experimental design consisted of three 30m x 30m plots containing 9 sampling points laid out on a square grid with each point placed 9-m apart. Soil samples were extracted at three depth intervals (0-5, 5-15, and 15-30 cm) and processed for analysis in the field with the LIBS and MIRS instruments. The INS instrument estimated soil C densities to a soil depth of 30 cm via scanning or stationary mode. All soil samples were analyzed for C in the laboratory by dry combustion and the results expressed as soil C density using soil bulk density values determined by the soil core method. A subset of C concentration values determined by dry combustion was provided to all teams for calibration purposes although the LIBS team used an independent calibration set. The dry combustion team collected all results and compared them across methods. A similar procedure was employed at CIMMYT in Mexico on a 17-year old crop rotation-tillage-residue experiment although only two teams (LIBS and MIRS) were able to participate. Full results of the two experiments will be presented and discussed in terms of the quantitative results obtained with the various methodologies, their technical details, and possibilities for deployment in developing countries.  

Back to Symposium--Advancing Measurement Techniques and Modeling Synergy for Environmental Soils Research in Space and Time: III
Back to S01 Soil Physics

Back to The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 4-8, 2007)