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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Post-Fire Variation In Aeolian Deposition In The Northern Great Basin, Clayton Roehner
Post-Fire Variation In Aeolian Deposition In The Northern Great Basin, Clayton Roehner
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Aeolian processes play a significant role in the redistribution of sediment and nutrients in sparsely vegetated sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. When fire is introduced to the landscape, decreased surface roughness and associated threshold friction velocities allow for the increased mobility of surface sediments and burnt organic material, mobilizing previously stable material. Once material is entrained, interactions between a dynamic atmosphere and complex topography control the spatial distribution of aeolian deposition over a landscape. Given the significant impact of fire on aeolian processes in semi-arid deserts, we posit that postfire aeolian redistribution of material is an important control on the spatial variability of …
Assessing Eolian Dust Inputs To Soils In Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, Sw Idaho, Brian Jameson Stark
Assessing Eolian Dust Inputs To Soils In Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, Sw Idaho, Brian Jameson Stark
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
A geochemical investigation of upland soils in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed (DCEW) near Boise, Idaho was conducted to assess the potential contributions of eolian dust. Major and trace element compositions of soils within the watershed, loess deposits in the adjacent Western Snake River Plain (WSRP), and underlying granodiorite bedrock were evaluated. Multiple lines of evidence suggest a significant contribution of dust in the soils. Plots of Co/Ti, V/Ti and Cr/Ti indicate that the loess and bedrock occupy distinctly different compositional spaces and that the soils are of intermediate composition, suggesting that the soils are a mixture of the loess …
Identifying Controls On Surface Carbon Dioxide Efflux In A Semi-Arid Ecosystem, Katrina Elsie Ladd
Identifying Controls On Surface Carbon Dioxide Efflux In A Semi-Arid Ecosystem, Katrina Elsie Ladd
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
This study focused on soil respiration, the least constrained process in the terrestrial carbon cycle, and a source of uncertainty for model predicted ecosystem response to climate change. Respiration processes that make up soil respiration respond to environmental influencing factors, temperature, and moisture. Respiration responses vary by site, time of year, and also year to year, confounding determination of individual influence of the factors, making soil respiration difficult to model. This research took advantage of the climate characteristics of a semi-arid system, in order to observe soil temperature and moisture influence on soil respiration. Field measurements of soil surface CO …