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SGS-LTER CPER hillslope soil spatial variability on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado, USA 1983-1984

Abstract

This data package was produced by researchers working on the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) Project, administered at Colorado State University. Long-term datasets and background information (proposals, reports, photographs, etc.) on the SGS-LTER project are contained in a comprehensive project collection within the Repository (http://hdl.handle.net/10217/100254). The data table and associated metadata document, which is generated in Ecological Metadata Language, may be available through other repositories serving the ecological research community and represent components of the larger SGS-LTER project collection. CPER Hillslope Soil Spatial Variability - Pedons were characterized along three parallel transects, spaced at approximate 40 m intervals perpendicular to a hillslope at the CPER. Pedons were described at 7 landscape positions along each transect: summit, shoulder, upper backslope, middle backslope, lower backslope, footslope, and toeslope. Pedons were described by genetic horizon according to the standards of the National Cooperative Soil Survey. Analyses included: particle size; organic C; total N; organic and total P. Bulk Density was estimated using particle size and organic C data, according to: Rawls, W.J. 1983. Estimating soil bulk density from particle size analysis and organic matter content. Soil Sci. 135: 123-125.

Description

The Short Grass Steppe site encompasses a large portion of the Colorado Piedmont Section of the western Great Plains. The extent is defined as the boundaries of the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER). The CPER has a single ownership and landuse (livestock grazing). The PNG is characterized by a mosaic of ownership and land use. Ownership includes federal, state or private and land use consists of livestock grazing or row-crops. There are NGO conservation groups that exert influence over the area, particularly on federal lands.
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL)
Shortgrass Steppe-Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER)

Rights Access

Subject

catena
organic matter
hillslope
soils
inorganic nutrients

Citation

Associated Publications

Paroussis, E. (Elias), Factors controlling soil spatial variability in a native range landscape. (Unpublished master's thesis). Colorado State University, 1984. https://hdl.handle.net/10217/183488
Yonker, C. M., D. S. Schimel, E. Paroussis, and R. D. Heil, Patterns of organic carbon accumulation in a semiarid shortgrass steppe, Colorado. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 52, no. 2 (March-April 1988): 478-483. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1988.03615995005200020032x