Physical Crust Formation on Sandy Soils and Their Potential to Reduce Dust Emissions from Croplands

Heleen C. Vos, Wolfgang Fister, Frank D. Eckardt, Anthony R. Palmer and Nikolaus J. Kuhn
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Heleen C. Vos: Physical Geography and Environmental Change Research Group, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Wolfgang Fister: Physical Geography and Environmental Change Research Group, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Frank D. Eckardt: Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
Anthony R. Palmer: Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
Nikolaus J. Kuhn: Physical Geography and Environmental Change Research Group, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: The sandy croplands in the Free State have been identified as one of the main dust sources in South Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and strength of physical soil crusts on cropland soils in the Free State, to identify the rainfall required to form a stable crust, and to test their impact on dust emissions. Crust strength was measured using a fall cone penetrometer and a torvane, while laboratory rainfall simulations were used to form experimental crusts. Dust emissions were measured with a Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL). The laboratory rainfall simulations showed that stable crusts could be formed by 15 mm of rainfall. The PI-SWERL experiments illustrated that the PM 10 emission flux of such crusts is between 0.14% and 0.26% of that of a non-crusted Luvisol and Arenosol, respectively. The presence of abraders on the crust can increase the emissions up to 4% and 8% of the non-crusted dust flux. Overall, our study shows that crusts in the field are potentially strong enough to protect the soil surfaces against wind erosion during a phase of the cropping cycle when the soil surface is not protected by plants.

Keywords: wind erosion; soil crusts; PI-SWERL; rainfall experiment; crust strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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