Assessing erosion processes associated with establishment of coal seam gas pipeline infrastructure in Queensland, Australia

Vacher, C. A.; Antille, Diogenes L.; Huth, Neil; Raine, Steven R.

doi:10.13031/aim.20162461210

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…However, surface compaction in these soils was rarely detected. A similar conclusion was found by Vacher et al (2016), where subsurface compaction increased by 15-20% in disturbed areas. Tekeste et al (2019) conducted compaction studies during the installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in Iowa and found that ROW zones had significantly higher compaction than adjacent, undisturbed corn fields.…”

Section: Compactionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…All 12 studies that measured pipeline installation impacts on aggregate stability found significant decreases, with an average reduction of 44.8% and ranging from 22.2 to 84.5% (Table 2, Figure 1). Evidence of subsidence, or the gradual settling or sinking of soil, in ROW areas has been documented by Vacher et al (2016), which states that depressions in disturbed fields after pipeline installation measured between 10 and 20 cm below the average slope of the adjacent study area. Introduced depressions like this can create instances of new hydric soils or vernal pools.…”

Section: Aggregate Stability and Erodibility Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pipeline installation effects on soils and plants: A review and quantitative synthesis

Brehm

Culman

2022

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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Oil and natural gas pipelines are essential to the transport of energy materials, but construction of these pipelines commonly causes disturbance to ecosystems. Due to variability in pipeline installation practices and environments, drawing consensus about how pipeline installations typically impact ecosystems is challenging. Here, we performed a systematic literature review to compile studies that have evaluated impacts of pipeline installation on soil and plant properties. We found 34 studies reporting pipeline impacts on agricultural and natural ecosystems from eight countries. We quantified and synthesized the magnitude of responses and found that the majority of studies found pipeline installation resulted in soil degradation via increased compaction and soil mixing, paired with decreased aggregate stability and soil carbon (C) relative to adjacent, undisturbed areas. Averaged across all studies, aggregate stability decreased 44.8%, water infiltration was reduced 85.6%, and compaction via penetration resistance increased 40.9% over pipeline areas relative to nondisturbed adjacent areas. This soil degradation led to general declines in plant productivity, with 15 out of 25 studies documenting declines in crop yields (6.2-45.6%) and six out of nine studies reporting decreased biomass from natural ecosystems (1.7-56.8%). We conclude from our quantitative synthesis that pipeline installation typically results in degraded soil and vegetation resources, and this can persist for many years following installation.

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Section: Compactionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Aggregate Stability and Erodibility Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pipeline installation effects on soils and plants: A review and quantitative synthesis

Brehm

Culman

2022

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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“…The increase in microaggregate sites and subsequent decrease in macroaggregate sites create a more hostile germinating and growing environment for vegetation, alter nutrient cycling and bioavailability, and change hydrologic functions within the soil (Braunack & Dexter, 1988;Guber et al, 2003;Jastrow et al, 1996). Compacted soils with altered pore distributions, particularly when paired with landscape disturbances as seen following pipeline installation, have a higher potential of wind and water erosion which could persist or intensify for years following disturbance (Antille et al, 2016;Vacher et al, 2014;Vacher et al, 2016).…”

Section: Soil Physical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil degradation and crop yield declines persist 5 years after pipeline installations

Brehm

Culman

2023

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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Degradation of natural resources, including increased soil compaction, soil horizon mixing, and decreased crop yields have been common outcomes of underground pipeline installation. However, most of the research documenting the impacts of pipeline installation on soil and crops was conducted before contemporary best management practices were developed and implemented. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of pipeline installation on soils and field crops after a 4‐ to 5‐year remediation period, coinciding with the end of landowner compensation and when sites are considered fully remediated by pipeline companies. We report soil properties and corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yields from three independently operated pipelines at 29 sites across 8 Ohio counties. We observed significant degradation in soil physical properties, such as surface penetration resistance (15.3% increase) and mean weight diameter of soil aggregates (13.6% decrease) in right‐of‐way (ROW) areas compared with adjacent (ADJ) areas, respectively. Soils in ROW showed evidence of soil horizon mixing, with 25.0 g kg−1 higher clay compared with ADJ areas. Soil degradation resulted in decreases of 23.8% and 19.5% in corn yields and 7.4% and 12.5% in soybean yields during 2020 and 2021, respectively. Widespread disturbance persisted 5 years following pipeline installation in soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. Current best management practices of pipeline installation and remediation employed by three companies were insufficient to combat widespread soil degradation and crop yield loss.

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Assessing erosion processes associated with establishment of coal seam gas pipeline infrastructure in Queensland, Australia

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Pipeline installation effects on soils and plants: A review and quantitative synthesis

Pipeline installation effects on soils and plants: A review and quantitative synthesis

Soil degradation and crop yield declines persist 5 years after pipeline installations

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