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Spatiotemporal distribution of soil nutrients within an abandoned cattle feedlot

  • SOILS, SEC 2 • GLOBAL CHANGE, ENVIRON RISK ASSESS, SUSTAINABLE LAND USE • RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

Nutrients from cropland and feedlot operations can move through preferential pathways into wetlands, groundwater, and surface water, which can cause adverse health and ecological problems. It is hypothesized that nitrogen (N) can cause a short-term contamination of soils and groundwater beneath feedlots, but phosphorus (P) can cause both short- and long-term contamination in well-drained soils. This paper examines the spatial and temporal distribution of nutrients within an abandoned feedlot and adjacent wetlands.

Materials and methods

Fifteen O-horizon, sixty-three composite O- and A-horizon, and sixty-one B-horizon composite grab samples from five different soils within a northwest Minnesota (USA) feedlot and adjacent wetlands were collected and analyzed for P, nitrate (NO3 −), and ammonium (NH4 +). Groundwater data from a deep-monitoring well were used to examine the change in nutrient concentration through time.

Results and discussion

Spatiotemporal distribution of nutrients indicated alignment of high concentration of P within the well-drained soil at the former feedlot pens and low concentration within the wetlands. By contrast, NO3 − showed high concentrations in the wetland compared with the pens. The well-drained soils indicated leaching of NO3 − in most of the area and sequestration of P. Groundwater data indicated a decline in NO3 − concentration through time.

Conclusions

Results of this study suggest that NO3 − poses short-term contamination of soil and groundwater in feedlots, but P poses both short- and long-term problems due to sequestration and immobilization, which may not impact soil-quality downgradient from the feedlot unless intense erosion and runoff occur.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funds from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation Cooperative, US Geological Survey, the North Dakota View Scholarship, the Dr. Alan Cvancara Field Research Scholarship, and the North Dakota Water Resources Research Fellowship. The authors would also like to thank Abdul Benson, Bryce Klasen, Carleigh Lider, Luke Belanus, and Darin Buri for their help and also the anonymous reviewers whose comments improved the content and quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-8358, USA

    Prosper Gbolo & Philip J. Gerla

  2. North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, 58108-6050, USA

    Prosper Gbolo & Philip J. Gerla

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  1. Prosper Gbolo
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  2. Philip J. Gerla
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Correspondence to Prosper Gbolo.

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Responsible editor: Fanghua Hao

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Gbolo, P., Gerla, P.J. Spatiotemporal distribution of soil nutrients within an abandoned cattle feedlot. J Soils Sediments 15, 71–80 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0971-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0971-8

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