**-  Midwest  
-  West Lafayette, IN 
-  National Soil Erosion Research Lab 
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**Location: National Soil Erosion Research Lab**
**2008 Annual Report**
**1a.Objectives (from AD-416)**													1. Processes of sediment production and control:  Develop methodologies to control erosion through a better understanding of the basic processes leading to sediment production. 1.1  Quantify transient soil hydraulic gradient and freeze-thaw effects on soil erodibility.1.2  Identify and quantify landscape attributes and hydrologic conditions that can be used to assess hillslope seepage and ephemeral gully erosion.1.3  Develop innovative BMPs for critical areas on landscapes using soil amendments for controlling erosion.2.  Processes affecting chemical transport:  Determine the erosion processes responsible for the off-site transport of nutrients and pesticides to better develop mitigation strategies.  2.1  Examine the interactions between fertilizers and soil physio-chemical properties on the fate and transport of nutrients. 2.2  Quantify the processes governing contaminant transport in managed surface waters, and characterize properties that can be manipulated to reduce contaminant transport in these systems.2.3  Quantify the relative potentials for glyphosate and atrazine to exceed MCL in runoff water before and after converting long-term no-till to rotational tillage. 2.4  Evaluate the potential of foundry sands to reduce atrazine loading to field runoff and drainage water.  3.  Watershed hydrology and management:  Develop better methodologies for managing landscapes and watersheds through increased understanding of the interrelationships among land-use and soils to further develop the knowledge through use of remote sensing and improved landscape models.  3.1  Quantify the mechanisms of impervious surface / pervious surface interactions that govern surface hydrology and erosion processes on mixed landuse slopes.3.2  Develop a technique for using pedotransfer functions and remotely sensed soil moisture to estimate soil hydraulic properties at the watershed scale.						
**1b.Approach  (from AD-416)**													Conduct laboratory and field studies to quantify transient soil hydraulic gradient and freeze-thaw effects on soil erodibility; Examine the interactions between fertilizers and soil physio-chemical properties on the fate and transport of nutrients; Quantify the mechanisms of impervious and pervious surface interactions that govern surface hydrology and erosion processes on mixed land use slopes.						
**3.Progress Report**													The conceptual framework of soil erodibility varies as a function of hydraulic gradient has been estabilished from literature searches and experiments conducted to evaluate the effect.  One Masters thesis was prepared and successfully defended during the reporting period.  A literature search was also completed on ephemeral gulley initiation and experiments planned for a Phd dissertation related to this milestone.  
A laboratory pan study and various rates and types of gypsum and polyacrylamide applications was completed and results presented in an international congress and reported in the proceedings.
Three major field studies were conducted including a ditch study on the transport of nutrients in flowing water and supplemented by laboratory studies.  The other two studies included:.1)a rainfall simulation study was completed on no-tilled and conventionally tilled fields to determine the potential of glyphosate and atrazine to exceed the mean contaminate level, and.2)a rainfall simulation study was completed to determine the effectiveness of soil amendments on reducing nutrient and pesticide loadings from these same tillage systems.
A soil moisture sensor network has been completed and the data are on-line at real time for researchers and farmers to access.  Experiments on pervious surfaces have been conducted and a journal article submitted for publication.						
**4.Accomplishments**									1.																									Pelletized Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) gypsum and dry polyacrylamide (PAM). Both FGD gypsum and PAM present problems to farmers in application to field conditions.  The FGD gypsum is dusty and can cause problems with airbourne dust when spreading and the low amounts of PAM required per acre make it virtually impossible to spread dry onto the land.  It is highly viscous when in solution and presents considerable problems for land application.  We developed pellets of each material in the proper form and combination for optimum erosion control.  By using the FGD gypsum as a carrier for the PAM, application can be made easier and more uniformly than other methods.  The impact of this accomplishment is better erosion control and a lower cost using soil amendments.  This accomplishment contributes to the National Program Component 201 "Water Resource Mangement" and Problem Area Number 4 "Integrated Soil Erosion and Sediment Technologies" and Problem Area 6 "Water Quality Protection Systems".													2.																									Gully erosion processes at steep loess slopes
The Loess Plateau of China is one of the most eroded regions in the world with gully erosion being the dominant sediment source at watershed scale. Chinese scientists quantified gully development in a large soil box under simulated rainfall and reproduced the evolving pattern from sheet to rill erosion, then rill to gully erosion and found different contributions from rills and gullies at different stages. During initial stage of rill development, rill erosion contributed 58.7% of the total sediment delivery. During the middle stage of rill development and active stage of gully development, rill and gully erosion accounted for 70% of the total sediment delivery. This finding improves the knowledge in erosion science and prediction of gully erosion. 
This accomplishment contributes to the National Program 201 “Water Resource Management,” Problem Area Number 4 ‘Integrated soil erosion and sediment technologies.” 							**5.Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations**													NONE.						
**6.Technology Transfer**Number of Web Sites Managed1**Review Publications***Smith, D.R., Owens, P.R., Leytem, A.B., Warnemuende, E.A. 2007. Nutrient losses from manure and fertilizer applications as impacted by time to first runoff event. Environmental Pollution. 147:131-137.**Pappas, E.A., Smith, D.R., Huang, C., Shuster, W.D., Bonta, J.V. 2007. Impervious surface impacts to runoff and sediment discharge under laboratory rainfall simulation. Catena. 72:146-152.**Pappas, E.A., Patterson, J., Smith, D.R., Huang, C. 2007. Effects of tilling no-till soil on losses of atrazine and glyphosate to runoff water under variable intensity simulated rainfall. International Journal of Soil and Tillage Research. 95:19-26.**Decampos, A.B., Rocha, C., Smith, D.R., Huang, C. 2007. Improvement of metals and phosphorus analysis in water samples by ICP-OES RF power and nebulizer gas flow rate modification. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 38:1179-1191.**Mamedov, A.I., Beckmann, S., Huang, C., Levy, G.J. 2007. Aggregate stability as affected by polyacrylamide molecular weight, soil texture and water quality. Soil Science of America Journal. 71:1909-1918.**Smith, D.R., Pappas, E.A., Huang, C., Heathman, G.C. 2007. First Year Tillage Impacts on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Losses in Runoff. International Journal of Soil and Tillage Research. 95:11-18.*    Project TeamNorton, Lloyd  - *Darrell*Huang, Chi Hua Smith, Douglas  - *Doug*Pappas, Elizabeth  - *Betsy*Heathman, Gary  
Project Annual Reports FY 2009 FY 2008 Publications  Publications 
Related National Programs Soil Resource Management(202) Water Availability and Water Management(211) Related Projects  Fgd Gypsum in Agriculture Network  							Last Modified: 03/24/2010 		ARS Home |USDA.gov |Site Map |Policies and Links FOIA |Accessibility Statement |Privacy Policy |Nondiscrimination Statement |Information Quality |USA.gov |White House

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