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Assessing the Effects of Lake Dredged Sediments on Soil Health: Agricultural and Environmental Implications on Midwest Ohio

Brigham, Russell D
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4307-8070
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1593902126203743

Abstract Details

2020, Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, Geology.
Annually, nearly 1.5 million tons of sediments are dredged from Lake Erie, Ohio. The main method of dredged sediment disposal is open lake disposal. Open lake disposal poses a threat to water quality by re-suspending nitrogen and phosphorus-rich sediments. The Ohio State Senate passed a bill to prohibit the practice of open water disposal after July 2020 and recommends finding alternatives uses of the dredged sediment. One alternative is to use the sediment as an amendment for farm soil. This research aimed to measure the health of soil amended with various dredged sediment ratios, determine nutrient dynamics when the soil blends were subjected to induced storm-events, and quantify the effect of dredged sediment on soybean belowground biomass and yield. We used de-watered dredged sediment from the Great Lakes Dredged Material Center for Innovation and farm soil from a legacy phosphorous (P) farm site in Oregon, Ohio. Soil analysis was conducted on the two soils for baseline data. The soils were thoroughly mixed and separated into four different soil blends; 100% farm soil, 90% farm soil to 10% dredged sediment, 80% farm soil to 20% dredged sediment, and 100% dredged sediment and placed into 32 mesocosms. Soybeans were planted in half of the mesocosms. Daily watering and five random seasonal storm events were conducted during the growing season using synthetic rainwater. After 123 days, the soybean plants were harvested, and soil cores were collected for analysis. Physico-chemical analyses were conducted on the soil, plant biomass, and percolated stormwater. Results showed that dredged sediment amendment improved the quality of the farm soil by providing additional soil organic matter, increasing the cation exchange capacity and decreased P concentration in the legacy P farm soil. Nutrient loss (phosphorous and nitrogen) in the percolated solutions showed no significant changes when compared to the percolated solutions in the 100% farm soil treatment, indicating no significant contribution to the export of nutrients into waterways. Our study showed that adding dredged sediment to farm soil improved the farm soil health and showed no negative environmental impacts with respect to additional nutrient loss.
Angelica Vázquez-Ortega, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Andrew Kear, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Shannon Pelini, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Anita Simic Milas, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
60 p.
Agriculture; Environmental Science; Geochemistry; Geology; Soil Sciences
dredge; dredged sediment; Lake Erie; nutrients; nitrogen; phosphorous; organic; inorganic; carbon; nitrate; phosphate; greenhouse; farm soil; soybean; biomass; cation exchange capacity; CEC; pH; bulk density; calcium; magnesium; potassium

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Brigham, R. D. (2020). Assessing the Effects of Lake Dredged Sediments on Soil Health: Agricultural and Environmental Implications on Midwest Ohio [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1593902126203743

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Brigham, Russell. Assessing the Effects of Lake Dredged Sediments on Soil Health: Agricultural and Environmental Implications on Midwest Ohio. 2020. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1593902126203743.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Brigham, Russell. "Assessing the Effects of Lake Dredged Sediments on Soil Health: Agricultural and Environmental Implications on Midwest Ohio." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1593902126203743

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1593902126203743
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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.