Soil Physical and Chemical Properties

Physical and chemical analyses were carried out on soil samples collected from treatment and control plots at the three DIRT sites (HF, PA, WI). Not all analyses were performed on all samples.

List of samples and analyses:

HF 1990: %C, %N
HF 1991: %C, %N,  Db, pH,
d13C, d 15N
HF 1995: All analyses listed below.  Only 3 of the 6 control plots were sampled.
WI 1997: All analyses listed below.

 

Analytical Methods

d13C: expressed as positive or negative deviation from the PDB standard
d15N: expressed as positive or negative deviation from the atmospheric standard
Bulk Density: Fresh weight of soil divided by core volume.  For details see soil sampling information for individual sites.
Ash-Free Dry Weight (%): [(oven-dry weight - ashed weight)/oven dry weight ]* 100.  For details see soil sampling information for individual sites.
Elemental Analyzer %C:  %C determined with Perkin-Elmer 2400 Elemental Analyzer
Elemental Analyzer %N:  %N determined with Perkin-Elmer 2400 Elemental Analyzer
Soil carbon and nitrogen content: mineral soil: g/m2: %C or %N * Db (g/cm3) * 105 cm3.
Oea soil: mass (g) of sample scaled from template size up to m2 ground area.
Exchangeable cations and acidity: Robarge and Fernandez. (see references)

Data:

Abbreviation

Description

Study Site

Harvard Forest (HF), Bousson Forest (PA), U. of Wisconsin Arboretum (WI)

Site

WI soils only: Noe Woods, Wingra Woods, Curtis Prairie

Year

Year soils were collected

Depth

Oea organic horizon, 0-10 cm mineral soil, 10-15 cm mineral soil

Treatment

Treatment (2X, C, OX, T, TOX, O/A-less)

Plot

Plot number

Rep

Replicate sample from plot

Cosm#

Unique sample number

d13C

Delta 13C

d15N

Delta 15N

Db (g/cc)

Bulk Density

Soil wt per m2

HF 1995: used sample weight to calculate mass/area for Oea soils, because Db was not measured directly. Mineral soil: soil mass is calculated as Db * 105

Mg/ha

Soil mass Mg/ha

Ash-Free DW (%)

% Ash-free Dry Weight

Ash-Free C est (%)

Estimated %Ash-free %carbon; calculated as (% ash free dry weight)/2

Elem An C (%)

%C determined by Elemental Analyzer

Elem An N (%)

%N determined by Elemental Analyzer

C:N

Ratio of %C/%N

C cont (g/m2)

Soil carbon content, g C per m2 ground area

N cont (g/m2)

Soil nitrogen content, g C per m2 ground area

Exch Ca (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable calcium, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch Mg (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable magnesium, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch K (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable potassium, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch Na (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable sodium, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch bases (cmolc/kg)

Sum of exchangeable cations, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch Al (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable aluminum, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Exch H+ (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable acidity, centimoles of charge per kg dry weight soil

Total Acidity (cmolc/kg)

Exchangeable acidity + exchangeable aluminum

CEC (cmolc/kg)

Sum of exchangeable bases and acidity

Base Sat (% of CEC)

(Exchangeable bases* 100)/CEC

pH

See method for pH

[H+]

The inverse log of pH

d 13C

d 15N


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