A Multi-Data Approach for Spatial Risk Assessment of Topsoil Compaction on Arable Sites

Sandra Ledermüller,Norbert Fröba,Joachim Brunotte,Marco Lorenz

doi:10.3390/su10082915

Abstract

Soil compaction is a human-induced threat which negatively affects soil functions and is highly dependent on site-specific soil conditions and land use patterns. Proper management techniques are indispensable for sustainable soil protection to ensure its function in the long term. A number of concepts exist to develop risk maps on the basis of soil inherent susceptibility to compaction at a given soil moisture level (mostly field capacity). However, the real soil conditions, e.g., current soil moisture content at the time of field work and the real machinery load, are not taken into account. To bridge this gap, we present a multi-data approach for qualitative risk assessment, which combines spatially and temporally explicit data on soil, soil moisture, and land use information. The contributing components integrate daily probability distribution, including inter- and intra-annual variations in land use and weather. We combined soil susceptibility to compaction and field work for the federal state of Lower Saxony per half-months and identified three clusters with more or less compaction risk for Lower Saxony. In spring, mainly manure spreading to maize and in autumn harvesting of maize and sugar beets are contributing to the yearly probability of compaction risk in top soils. With the presented approach risk areas can be identified. For the evaluation of the current compaction risks, farm specifications on machinery and timing of field work must also be taken into account.

Highlights

The use of heavy machinery and intensive field traffic can lead to a soil load that exceeds the intrinsic stability and resilience of soil structure and induces soil compaction
The infiltration and storage capacity of water is reduced, which promotes water erosion associated with a loss of nutrients and chemicals, which in turn leads to pollution of surface waters soil compaction has negative impacts on the formation of floods and on the production of greenhouse gases, e.g., in the form of nitrogen losses [12,13,14]
We present an approach for the region-wide risk assessment of soil compaction, including crop growing patterns, associated mechanical loads, and soil moisture contents in a long-term perspective

Summary

Introduction

The use of heavy machinery and intensive field traffic can lead to a soil load that exceeds the intrinsic stability and resilience of soil structure and induces soil compaction. It leads to declines in yield quality and quantity, which requires increased use of water, energy, and nutrients to compensate for the declined productivity. On the one hand, controlled by the type and intensity of the mechanical load as external factors. Soil susceptibility, that is mainly dependent on soil type and water content at the time of mechanical load, plays a decisive role [3,15,20,21,22]. Identification of the region-specific driving factors of soil compaction helps to determine a suitable type and time of cultivation, as well as the proper machinery for field work to avoid soil compaction and to achieve a desired soil structure. Risk Assessment is a tool to describe the probability that an object is exposed hazard, resulting from human activity, and can contribute to a sustainable and site-specific planning and management of soils [14,24,25,26,27,28]

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Conclusion