Climate, topography, and dust influences on the mineral and geochemical evolution of granitic soils in southern Arizona

Lybrand, Rebecca A.; Rasmussen, Craig

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.10.042

Cited by 40 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 76 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Dust storms transport desert dust in the Sonoran Desert (Péwé, ). Because an analysis of soils in southern Arizona suggests that up to 20% of the mineral material could derive from dust (Lybrand & Rasmussen, ), the silt and clay accumulating in the stock ponds could potentially all derive from aeolian dust deposition, or it could derive weathered bedrock. Thus, two sediment yields (and erosion rates) are presented.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil erosion from urbanization processes in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Jeong

Dorn

2018

Land Degrad Dev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cattle stock ponds on the fringe of metropolitan Phoenix, USA, experienced a wide range of land‐use changes over the period from 1989 to 2009. This research measures soil erosion from watersheds of different rock types, variable relief, and land uses. Monitoring sediment accumulation behind 18 earthen berms at each major land‐use transition enabled calculations of soil erosion rates. Compared with the first decade of study with more precipitation and cattle grazing, accelerated urbanization in the drier second decade increased soil erosion from wildfires by up to 4.2×, from exposure of bare ground due to building construction by up to 3.4×, and from bare ground exposure due to road and pipeline construction by up to 3.1× overgrazing alone. Stock pond watersheds underlain by granite experienced statistically significant higher erosion rates compared with watersheds underlain by metamorphic, basalt, and other rock types. Global sediment yield data for warm desert (BWh Köppen‐Geiger) sites reveal that our data plot consistently with other grazed study areas with a tendency for higher area‐specific sediment yields in smaller drainage areas. These sediment yield data, however, do not support previously published generalizations of anomalously high or low sediment yields from warm desert settings. Desert urbanization processes accelerate soil erosion, resulting in the need for regulatory agencies to impose new erosion mitigation strategies.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil erosion from urbanization processes in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Jeong

Dorn

2018

Land Degrad Dev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In that study, N, P, and, in some cases, K plus micronutrients (Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn)––many of which were disproportionately deposited to our sites during dust‐in‐rain weeks––were found to colimit net primary productivity in grassland ecosystems. Beyond humid ecosystems, dust has been shown to be a critical source of nutrients to temperate montane (Aciego et al, ; Arvin et al, ; Creamean et al, ) and semiarid ecosystems (Coble et al, ; Lybrand & Rasmussen, ; White et al, ). To what extent vegetation at the arid and humid sites we studied acquire their nutrients from local and distant eolian sources remains uncertain but warrants closer examination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We did not measure particulate Ca, Mg, K, Na, or P, but wet particulate fluxes of these elements can be similar to or as much as twofold greater than dissolved fluxes (Ávila et al, ). Further, deposition of these macronutrients and micronutrients in particulate form can contribute substantially to soil fertility, especially in regions proximal to dust sources (Aciego et al, ; Arvin et al, ; Coble et al, ; Lawrence et al, ; Lybrand & Rasmussen, ; Marchand, ; Muhs et al, ; Reheis, ; Reynolds et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, long‐range transport and deposition of Saharan dust can subsidize the nutrient requirements of tropical rainforests (Bristow et al, ; Chadwick et al, ; Gross et al, ; Rizzolo et al, ; Royer et al, ; Yu et al, ), marine bacteria (Chien et al, ; Westrich et al, ; Yoon et al, ), and possibly even some North American ecosystems (Bozlaker et al, ; Creamean et al, ), enhancing productivity in nutrient‐limited soils and waters (Brahney et al, ). In arid and semiarid regions, accumulation of wind‐blown dust deposits plays an important role in soil formation and fertility (Aciego et al, ; Arvin et al, ; Coble et al, ; Lybrand & Rasmussen, ; Marchand, ; Muhs et al, ; Reynolds et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Wet Dust Deposition Across Texas During the 2012 Drought: An Overlooked Pathway for Elemental Flux to Ecosystems

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Airborne dust can alter ecosystem productivity and biogeochemical cycling by enhancing atmospheric nutrient and pollutant deposition. Wet dust deposition (dust-in-rain) is less frequently quantified than dry deposition but represents a potentially significant flux to ecosystems. We quantified dust-in-rain event frequency, dust influence on rainwater ionic and elemental composition, and wet dissolved and particulate deposition during weeks affected by dust-in-rain and all other weeks (background samples) at two sites across Texas (one arid, Guadalupe Mountains, and one humid, Gulf coastal prairie) during the centennialscale 2012 drought. Although dust-in-rain was sporadic, a clear dust signature was evident in rainwater. Compared to background samples, crustal species (Fe and Mn) were more prevalent than anthropogenic species (Cu and Zn) in dust-in-rain. Volume-weighted mean rainwater concentrations of K + , Na + , and Cl À and of all particulate elements were also significantly greater in dust-in-rain than in background samples. In the Guadalupe Mountains, West Texas, dust-in-rain contributed nearly 50% of annual wet dissolved Na + and Cl À and 22-35% of dissolved Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , K + , and PO 4 3À deposition. In the Gulf coastal prairie, East Texas, dust-in-rain delivered 19%, 13%, and 9% of annual wet dissolved PO 4 3À , Ca 2+ , and K + deposition, respectively. A major proportion of annual wet particulate deposition (>56% in Guadalupe Mountains and~30% in Gulf coastal prairie) similarly occurred with dust-in-rain. Our findings show that infrequent dust-in-rain events constitute an important but overlooked pathway for elemental flux to ecosystems in arid source and humid receptor sites during severe drought. Quantifying these fluxes is crucial to determine dust impacts on ecosystem processes.Plain Language Summary Blowing soil dust is a frequent phenomenon in Texas caused by dry conditions, strong winds, and bare soil. Across the U.S. Southwest, severe drought and land use change are projected to increase in the future, contributing to more frequent and intense dust storms and eventually dry dust fallout or dust washout from the atmosphere with rain (dust-in-rain). Dust-in-rain contains dissolved substances that act as nutrients to plants and ecosystems, as well as others that can be toxic pollutants. Dust-in-rain also contains particles that contribute to soil formation and fertility. How will warmer, drier, Dust Bowl-like conditions affect raining dust events? To answer this question, we examined rainwater samples collected by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program at two Texas sites (one arid, Guadalupe Mountains, and one humid, Gulf coastal prairie) during 2012, a year of extreme drought (and dust) in Texas. We determined the number of dust-in-rain events at each site, analyzed concentrations of diverse substances (some nutrients and some pollutants) in rainwater, and quantified the annual proportion of nutrients and pollutants delivered to the sites in rain during weeks affected by dust. Although dust-...

show abstract

“…Dust deposition can also alter precipitation pH (Brahney et al, 2013), and induce changes to lake water chemistry and biology (Brahney et al, 2014(Brahney et al, , 2015. In nutrient-limited deposition areas, dust can be an important source of critical nutrients (such as phosphorus, iron, and silicon) enhancing primary productivity or contributing pollutants to terrestrial ecosystems (Aciego et al, 2017;Arvin et al, 2017;Brahney et al, 2015;Coble et al, 2015;Dastrup et al, 2018;Jiao et al, 2018;Lybrand and Rasmussen, 2017;Ponette-Gonzalez et al, 2018). Therefore, dust is capable of acting as a fertilizer either increasing primary productivity or causing eutrophication when inputs are excessive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competing droughts affect dust delivery to Sierra Nevada

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The generation and transport of mineral dust is strongly related to climate on seasonal, year-to-year, and glacialinterglacial timescales. The modern dust cycle is influenced by soil moisture, which is partly a function of drought duration and severity. The production and transport of dust can therefore be amplified by global and regional droughts, thereby moderating ecosystem vulnerability to disturbance through the influence of dust on nutrient delivery to ecosystems. In this work, we use strontium and neodymium isotopes in combination with trace element concentrations in modern dust samples collected in 2015 to quantify the role of regionally versus globally supplied dust in nutrient delivery to a montane ecosystem. The study sites lie along an elevational transect in the southern Sierra Nevada, USA, with samples spanning the dry seasons of 2014 (Aciego et al., 2017) and 2015 (this study), when the region was experiencing a historic drought. The goal of our research was to quantify the spatial and temporal variability and sensitivity of the dust cycle to short term changes at nutrientlimited sites. We find that, during the dry season of 2015, Asian sources contributed between 10 and 40% of dust to sites located along this elevational transect, and importantly increased in importance during the summer growing season compared to regional dust sources. These changes are likely related to the prolonged drought in Asia in 2015, highlighting both the sensitivity of dust production and transport to drought and the teleconnections of dust transport in terrestrial ecosystems.

show abstract

Climate, topography, and dust influences on the mineral and geochemical evolution of granitic soils in southern Arizona

Cited by 40 publications

References 76 publications

Soil erosion from urbanization processes in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Soil erosion from urbanization processes in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Wet Dust Deposition Across Texas During the 2012 Drought: An Overlooked Pathway for Elemental Flux to Ecosystems

Competing droughts affect dust delivery to Sierra Nevada

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About