Screening risk areas for sediment and phosphorus losses to improve placement of mitigation measures

Abstract

Identification of vulnerable arable areas to phosphorus (P) losses is needed to effectively implement mitigation measures. Indicators for source (soil test P, STP), potential mobilization by erosion (soil dispersion), and transport (unit-stream power length-slope, LS) risks were used to screen the vulnerability to suspended solids (SS) and P losses in two contrasting catchments regarding topography, soil textural distribution, and STP. Soils in the first catchment ranged from loamy sand to clay loam, while clay soils were dominant in the second catchment. Long-term SS and total P losses were higher in the second catchment in spite of significantly lower topsoil STP. A higher proportion of areas in the second catchment were identified with higher risk due to the significantly higher risk of overland flow generation (LS) and a significantly higher mobilization risk in the soil dispersion laboratory tests. A simple screening method was presented to improve the placement of mitigation measures.

Keywords

Erosion; Critical source areas; Phosphorus; Risk screening

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2015, volume: 44, number: 7, pages: 612-623
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Villa Solis, Ana

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Djodjic, Faruk

  • Department of Soil Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Bergström, Lars

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Kyllmar, Katarina

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG15 Life on land

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0680-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/74999