Get reliable rangeland science

Groundwater-induced emissions of nitrous oxide through the soil surface and from subsurface drainage in an Andosol upland field : A monolith lysimeter study
Author
Minamikawa, Kazunori
Eguchi, Sadao
Nishimura, Seiichi
Ihara, Hirotaka
Maeda, Morihiro
Yagi, Kazuyuki
Komada, Michio
Publisher
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition
Publication Year
2013
Body

Nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in shallow groundwater has two emission pathways to the atmosphere: dissolution in subsurface drainage and groundwater and later degassing from water surfaces open to the atmosphere, and upward gas diffusion. N2O undergoing upward diffusion through the soil surface cannot usually be distinguished from N2O produced in the topsoil. To evaluate the emission pathway and rate of groundwater-induced N2O, we conducted a one-year experiment using monolith lysimeters containing 1"m-long undisturbed Andosol. We measured emission of N2O via the soil surface and dissolved N2O emitted via subsurface drainage from the non-planted lysimeters under two conditions without fertilizer-nitrogen (N) addition: (1) with the groundwater table at 0.9 m depth (GW), and (2) without any groundwater table (nonGW). Total soil surface N2O emissions in the GW and nonGW treatments were 21.0±6.3 and 17.0±1.1"mg"N"m-2"yr-1, respectively (mean±standard error, n"="3), and the difference between the two treatments was not significant. Total dissolved N2O emissions via drainage in the GW and nonGW treatments were 11.40±5.68 and 0.42±0.03"mg"N"m-2"yr-1, respectively. The presence of groundwater significantly increased dissolved N2O emission under zero fertilizer-N addition. This is due to the one to three orders of magnitude higher concentration of dissolved N2O in the GW treatment. Our results indicate that the presence of groundwater increases total N2O emissions from an Andosol upland field via these two pathways.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Journal Volume
59
Journal Number
1
Journal Pages
87-95
Collection
Southern Africa Collection
Journal Name
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition
Keywords
nitrous oxide
greenhouse gases
soils
agriculture
climate change
fertilizer
groundwater
Tsukuba
Japan