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The Effects of Leaching and Whole‐tree Harvesting on Cation Budgets of Several Forests
Author(s) -
Johnson D. W.,
Kelly J. M.,
Swank W. T.,
Cole D. W.,
Van Miegroet H.,
Hornbeck J. W.,
Pierce R. S.,
Van Lear D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1988.00472425001700030012x
Subject(s) - leaching (pedology) , soil acidification , acid neutralizing capacity , acid rain , ultisol , lessivage , chemistry , deciduous , environmental science , sulfate , environmental chemistry , soil ph , cation exchange capacity , soil water , deposition (geology) , acid deposition , soil science , ecology , geology , biology , paleontology , organic chemistry , sediment
The effects of acid deposition, natural leaching, and harvesting on base cation export from forests in Maine, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Washington were compared. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that base cation export via whole‐tree harvesting (WTH) would be nearly independent of soil exchangeable base cation supplies; base cation export via leaching would be strongly dependent on the exchangeable cation supplies as well as the input, production, and mobility of anions. This hypothesis was supported by the data: mixed deciduous sites in Tennessee had among the highest base cation (principally Ca) exports via WTH (1.2 kmol c ha −1 yr −1 ), yet the lowest soil exchangeable supplies (35 kmol c ha −1 ), whereas the Washington sites had by far the highest base cation leaching (5–41 kmol c ha −1 yr −1 , due to very high levels of naturally produced HCO − 3 ) and soil exchangeable supplies, yet only relatively moderate base cation exports via WTH (0.4 kmol c ha −1 yr −1 ). Sulfate was either the dominant or a major anion in soil solutions from the eastern sites, suggesting that atmospheric deposition was a major factor in soil leaching from these sites (0.2–2.1 kmol c ha −1 yr −1 ), but total leaching rates from these sites were much lower than at the Washington sites. Indeed, some of the eastern sites showed a net annual accumulation of one or more base cations from atmospheric deposition. Some of the southeastern sites with Ultisols showed the expected net retention of SO 2− 4 , but the sites in the Tennessee Valley near Oak Ridge showed surprisingly little ecosystem SO 2− 4 retention, perhaps due to lower soil SO 2− 4 adsorption in these soils than in other Ultisols.