Spatiotemporal distribution of soil nutrients within an abandoned cattle feedlot

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.