Subsidence rates and carbon loss in peat soils following conversion to pasture in the Waikato Region, New Zealand

. Drainage of peat soils for agriculture can lead to large carbon losses due to oxidation of peat. We estimated peat subsidence rates and total carbon losses, due to 40 years of dairy farming on a former peat bog, by measuring the thickness of peat and total carbon of farmland and of an adjacent unm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soil use and management 2002-06, Vol.18 (2), p.91-93
Main Authors: Schipper, L.A., McLeod, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
carbon
Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties
dairy farming
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
mineralization
Organic matter
Peat
Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils
Soil science
subsidence
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Summary:. Drainage of peat soils for agriculture can lead to large carbon losses due to oxidation of peat. We estimated peat subsidence rates and total carbon losses, due to 40 years of dairy farming on a former peat bog, by measuring the thickness of peat and total carbon of farmland and of an adjacent unmodified peat bog above a marker tephra layer that was deposited about 200 AD. Subsidence rates averaged 3.4 cm yr–1 (95% confidence interval of 3.2 to 3.5 cm yr–1) and carbon loss averaged 3.7 t ha–1 yr–1 (95% confidence interval of 2.5 to 5.0 t ha–1 yr–1). On average, 63% of the subsidence was due to consolidation, with the remainder (37%) attributed to losses of organic matter due to peat mineralization.
ISSN:0266-0032
1475-2743
DOI:10.1111/j.1475-2743.2002.tb00225.x