Response of soil solution chemistry to recent declines in atmospheric deposition in two forest ecosystems in Berlin, Germany

As part of a long-term monitoring program to study the effects of acid deposition on forest ecosystems, throughfall and soil solutions from 50 and 200 cm depth have been collected and analyzed from 1986 to 1995 in a young pine stand and a mixed pine–oak forest in Berlin. Before 1990, atmospheric SO...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoderma 1998-04, Vol.83 (1), p.83-101
Main Authors: Marschner, Bernd, Gensior, Andreas, Fischer, Uwe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACID DEPOSITION
AIR POLLUTION
deposition rates
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
forest ecosystem
Geochemistry
GERMANY
Germany, Berlin
MIXED FORESTS
MONITORING
PINUS
QUERCUS
soil acidification
Soil and rock geochemistry
SOIL CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOIL SOLUTION
SOIL WATER
soil water chemistry
Soils
Surficial geology
time trends
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Summary:As part of a long-term monitoring program to study the effects of acid deposition on forest ecosystems, throughfall and soil solutions from 50 and 200 cm depth have been collected and analyzed from 1986 to 1995 in a young pine stand and a mixed pine–oak forest in Berlin. Before 1990, atmospheric SO 4 inputs of 1.5–2.1 kmol ha −1 a −1 were among the highest reported for Western Europe. Between 1990 and 1992 they declined sharply to below 0.7 kmol ha −1 a −1 and continued to decrease until 1995. Most other elements followed a similar time trend, except for mineral-N compounds that decreased by only 30%. The assessment of soil solution reactions to these changes was complicated by high temporal fluctuations of solute concentrations in response to soil water content changes. This problem was overcome with a regression model, where time-trend corrected Cl concentrations were introduced to account for these fluctuations. The data then show that in both stands soil solution composition reacts similarly to the changed input situation. Due to the concentration reductions of the major anion SO 4 2− in the soil solutions, concentrations of most major cations decreased and alkalinity increased. Still, acidity is transferred to the subsoil, indicating that soil acidification is continuing despite the strongly decreased acid deposition rates.
ISSN:0016-7061
1872-6259
DOI:10.1016/S0016-7061(97)00139-0