Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Solute Fluxes Through Restored Prairie And Intensively Managed Critical Zones In Nebraska And Iowa, Ashlee L. Dere, Andrew W. Miller, Amy M. Hemje, Sara K. Parcher, Courtney A. Capalli, E. Arthur Bettis Iii

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Agricultural activities in the Midwestern United States have potentially altered geochemical fluxes within the critical zone (CZ) compared to native prairie systems that previously dominated the region. To quantify the impact of agricultural land use on soil and stream solute behavior, we are studying two watersheds in the region: Glacier Creek Preserve (GCP) in eastern Nebraska and the Intensively Managed Landscapes Critical Zone Observatory (IML-CZO) in eastern Iowa. Both watersheds were initially under agricultural land use for over 100 years, but part of each watershed was restored to prairie 20 – 50 years ago. Soils at both sites formed in …