Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2019
Journal or Book Title
Transactions of the ASABE
Volume
62
Issue
6
First Page
1607
Last Page
1617
Research Focus Area(s)
Land and Water Resources Engineering
DOI
10.13031/trans.13414
Abstract
The prairie pothole region ranges from central Iowa to the northwest into Montana and south-central Canada, totaling around 700,000 km2. This area contains millions of potholes, or enclosed topographical depressions, which often inundate with rainfall. Many are located in areas that have been converted to agricultural land through installation of artificial drainage. However, even with drainage, potholes pond or remain saturated during and after significant rain events. In this two-year study, surface water depth was collected hourly (typically from after planting through harvest) from eight farmed potholes (drained and under corn-soybean rotation) on the Des Moines Lobe in central Iowa. Nutrient data were collected daily and tested for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) when inundation depth exceeded 10 cm. The data were analyzed in two ways. First, seasonal differences were investigated using samples from the first day of each inundation event. Surface water concentrations were higher in the early growing season than late season for total N (TN), NO3-N, NH3-N, total P (TP), and total suspended solids (TSS). Secondly, average event concentration changes were determined. Nitrate reductions occurred in 85% of multiday events, but these reductions were offset by increases in P. Total P and dissolved reactive P (DRP) had significant increases that averaged 0.51 and 0.46 mg L-1 per event, respectively, with event lengths of 2 to 19 days. This study demonstrates that inundated farmed potholes reduce NO3-N but serve as in-field hotspots, contributing elevated TP and DRP to drainage waters. When a surface intake directly connects inundated farmed potholes to drainage, new strategies, such as field management or engineered technologies, are needed to mitigate P export. This study is useful in informing policy regarding field management and conservation of farmed potholes.
Access
Open
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright Owner
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Copyright Date
2019
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Martin, Alexander R.; Soupir, Michelle L.; and Kaleita, Amy L., "Seasonal and Intra-Event Nutrient Levels in Farmed Prairie Potholes of the Des Moines Lobe" (2019). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 1107.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/1107
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons
Comments
This article is published as Martin, Alexander R., Michelle L. Soupir, and Amy L. Kaleita. "Seasonal and intra-event nutrient levels in farmed prairie potholes of the Des Moines Lobe." Transactions of the ASABE 62, no. 6 (2019): 1607-1617. DOI: 10.13031/trans.13414. Postged with permission.