Location: National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory
Project Number: 5020-12130-004-025-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2028
Objective:
Quantify sources of particulate phosphorus in subsurface leachate and the contribution of particulate phosphorus to legacy phosphorus losses.
Approach:
This objective seeks to expand our understanding of legacy phosphorus (P) to include the transport of legacy particulate P, which is often >50% of the P lost from agricultural fields. As part of this objective, we will install sediment traps and turbidity sensors at the outlets of two headwater watersheds in the St. Joseph River watershed and use sediment fingerprinting techniques in combination with isotopic signatures to determine the dominant source (surface- or subsurface-derived) and amount of particulate P delivered through the subsurface.