Nitrous oxide distribution in soil and surface flux

Abstract

The N2O surface emission and profile redistribution in a silty clay soil was investigated with 4 cropping systems (alfalfa, summerfallow, wheat and native grass during spring thaw. The relationship between gas concentration profiles and surface flux was also explored. There is little information in the literature reporting the efficiency of current storage methods for N2O samples collected in the field. One of the most common methods is storage in a syringe with subsequent manual injection into a gas chromatograph for analysis. Four methods of storage are investigated: the syringe method, the vacutainer method, and autosampler both with and without a liquid diffusion barrier. Many N2O flux studies focus on the inputs into the N 2O-forming processes and the timing of significant flux events, while little has been done specifically comparing N2O movement through different soil textures. Thus a laboratory method was developed to compare the effects of soil textureon permeability and redistribution of N2O in three different soils (sandy clay, clay loam and clay. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)