Sediment Catcher to Trap Coarse Organic Matter and Soil Particles Transported by Wind

Wind can erode fertile topsoil and reduce soil fertility. Evaluating the effect of wind erosion on soil fertility is crucial to achieve sustainable agriculture in areas suffering from desertification caused by wind erosion. To estimate soil loss and associated soil nutrient loss by wind erosion, flux of coarse organic matter (COM) (defined here as free organic debris larger than 200 µm) and soil particles (defined as the other soil components) must be measured separately. This is because their modes of transport are different, and COM plays a prominent role in soil nutrient dynamics in some semiarid zones where COM accounts for a large percentage of the total soil carbon. Because the Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) sampler can trap both COM and soil particles 0.05 m above the surface, we designed a sediment catcher, the Aeolian Materials Sampler (AMS), to trap these components below 0.05 m. This device can be manufactured easily at low cost. AMS performance was tested by wind tunnel experiments over a range of wind velocities typically observed in erosive storms and with six incident wind angles because the AMS is a buried-type sampler that is unable to rotate toward the wind. The trapping efficiency of the AMS for COM and soil particles was not 100%, but it can be calibrated easily using wind data. Therefore, we can estimate the mass flux of COM and soil particles and evaluate the effect of wind erosion on soil fertility using the AMS with the BSNE sampler.

[1]  C. Shang,et al.  Organic Matter Stabilization in Two Semiarid Tropical Soils: Size, Density, and Magnetic Separations , 1998 .

[2]  T. Zobeck,et al.  THE WOLFFORTH FIELD EXPERIMENT: A WIND EROSION STUDY , 1996 .

[3]  D. W. Fryrear,et al.  A field dust sampler , 1986 .

[4]  C. Bielders,et al.  Transport of soil and nutrients by wind in bush fallow land and traditionally managed cultivated fields in the Sahel , 2002 .

[5]  J. C. R. Hunt,et al.  Saltating particles over flat beds , 1993, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[6]  A. Stein,et al.  Mapping Wind‐Blown Mass Transport by Modeling Variability in Space and Time , 1997 .

[7]  Ronald Greeley,et al.  Rate of wind abrasion on Mars , 1982 .

[8]  K. Rasmussen,et al.  On the efficiency of vertical array aeolian field traps , 1998 .

[9]  W. Illenberger,et al.  Venturi-Compensated Eolian Sand Trap for Field Use: RESEARCH METHOD PAPER , 1986 .

[10]  G. Sterk,et al.  Wind‐blown nutrient transport and soil productivity changes in southwest Niger , 1996 .

[11]  H. Janzen,et al.  Wind erosion effects on nutrient redistribution and soil productivity , 1998 .

[12]  G. Sterk,et al.  Spatial variation in wind-blown sediment transport in geomorphic units in northern Burkina Faso using geostatistical mapping , 2004 .

[13]  W. Langham,et al.  The Effect of Wind Erosion and Cultivation on the Total Nitrogen and Organic Matter Content of Soils in the Southern High Plains1 , 1936 .

[14]  D. W. Fryrear,et al.  Performance of a Windblown-Particle Sampler , 1989 .

[15]  Raupach,et al.  Soil flux measurements using a portable wind erosion tunnel , 1991 .

[16]  D. A. Jobson,et al.  Wind-Tunnel Technique , 1953 .

[17]  D. W. Fryrear,et al.  Chemical and Physical Characteristics of Windblown Sediment II. Chemical Characteristics and Total Soil and Nutrient Discharge , 1986 .

[18]  R. Lal.  World Soil Erosion and Conservation: Soil erosion and conservation in West Africa , 1993 .

[19]  Johan Six,et al.  Aggregation and soil organic matter accumulation in cultivated and native grassland soils , 1998 .

[20]  J. Jones,et al.  Errors in measuring uniform aeolian sand flow by means of an adjustable trap , 1979 .

[21]  R. Bagnold,et al.  The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes , 1941 .

[22]  William G. Nickling,et al.  Wind tunnel evaluation of a wedge-shaped aeolian sediment trap , 1997 .

[23]  Bernard O. Bauer,et al.  Design and field test of a continuously weighing, tipping‐bucket assembly for aeolian sand traps , 1998 .

[24]  Geert Sterk,et al.  Measurement and data analysis methods for field‐scale wind erosion studies and model validation , 2003 .

[25]  T. Binns.  World Atlas of Desertification (2nd edn);: Nick Middleton and David Thomas (eds); Edward Arnold, London (1997), 182 pp. £145.00 hardback , 2000 .

[26]  C. Bielders,et al.  On-farm evaluation of ridging and residue management practices to reduce wind erosion in Niger. , 2000 .