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Immobilization of agricultural phosphorus in temperate floodplain soils of Illinois, USA

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Abstract

Nutrient losses from Mississippi watersheds degrade downstream water bodies. As forested floodplains intercept agricultural drainage waters, a limiting nutrient like phosphorus (P) could potentially be sequestered in forest soils, reducing P loss to the Gulf of Mexico. Thus far, the role of temperate deciduous floodplain soils for P has not been extensively investigated in the Midwestern United States. The objective of this study was to investigate the buffering capacity of P in floodplain soils using soil biochemical chemical assays, 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES). Phosphorus reaction dynamics were compared between floodplains and surrounding upland soils in east-central Illinois, USA. Total organic P was significantly greater in the floodplain (277.27 ± 159.51 mg kg−1) than that in the upland (113.04 ± 74.88 mg kg−1), illustrating its buffering capacity. Notably, microbial biomass P (averaged 13.08 mg kg−1) was greater in the floodplain than that in the upland. The results of 31P NMR analysis showed the presence of organic P (e.g., orthophosphate monoesters) and orthophosphate. The P K-edge XANES analysis shows that these inorganic and organic P species are predominantly adsorbed in calcite and precipitated as calcium phosphate in floodplain soils. These findings suggest that temperate deciduous floodplain soils have a great potential to immobilize agricultural P in the Upper Mississippi watershed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Mcintire-Stennis fund (Project # 875-965). Use of SSRL, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

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Correspondence to Yuji Arai.

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Arenberg, M.R., Liang, X. & Arai, Y. Immobilization of agricultural phosphorus in temperate floodplain soils of Illinois, USA. Biogeochemistry 150, 257–278 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00696-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00696-1

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