Effect of military training on indicators of soil quality at Fort Benning, Georgia

Land Cover Differences in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen at Fort Benning, Georgia

“…Following reestablishment of vegetation on barren sites and at an average rate of soil carbon accumulation beneath perennial vegetation, approximately 33 g C m -2 yr -1 (Post and Kwon, 2000), it would take about 60 years for soil carbon stocks at barren sites to reach current day levels under transitional vegetation or forest cover (Table 5). This predicted rate of recovery is consistent with an apparent slow accumulation of soil carbon stocks in particulate organic matter along a 100 year old pine chronosequence at Fort Benning, Georgia (Garten et al, 2003). …”

“…Portions of these samples were also physically separated into particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-associated organic matter (MOM) (Cambardella and Elliott, 1992) using methods described in other papers (Garten and Ashwood, 2002;Garten et al, 2003). The total soil carbon stock (to a depth of 20 cm) was subdivided among POM (corrected for refractory soil carbon), MOM, and refractory soil carbon.…”

“…The total soil carbon stock (to a depth of 20 cm) was subdivided among POM (corrected for refractory soil carbon), MOM, and refractory soil carbon. Refractory soil carbon in POM was evaluated using acid-base digestions (see Garten et al, 2003).…”

“…Based on acid-base digestions, one-third of the carbon in particulate organic matter was refractory. We are unable to provide a precise chemical analysis of this refractory carbon, but it has chemical properties similar to charcoal (Garten et al, 2003) and probably originates from controlled ground fires that are regularly used for forest management at Fort Benning. Figure 1 illustrates the hypothesized spatial distribution of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks at Fort Benning based on field measurements under different land cover categories and a 1999 land cover map.…”

Modeling Soil Quality Thresholds to Ecosystem Recovery at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA

“…At Fort Benning, Georgia, field training with tracked vehicles has resulted in an overall loss of soil quality at some training sites (Garten et al, 2003). Barren, heavily disturbed soils at Fort Benning have negligible O-horizons, lower soil N availability, and lower soil C and N stocks than soils subject to minimal military use (Garten and Ashwood, 2004).…”