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    Environmental Effects over the First 2½ Rotation Periods of a Fertilised Poplar Short Rotation Coppice
    (New York, NY : Springer, 2017-12-7) Kern, Jürgen; Germer, Sonja; Ammon, Christian; Balasus, Antje; Bischoff, Wolf-Anno; Schwarz, Andreas; Forstreuter, Manfred; Kaupenjohann, Martin
    A short rotation coppice (SRC) with poplar was established in a randomised fertilisation experiment on sandy loam soil in Potsdam (Northeast Germany). The main objective of this study was to assess if negative environmental effects as nitrogen leaching and greenhouse gas emissions are enhanced by mineral nitrogen (N) fertiliser applied to poplar at rates of 0, 50 and 75 kg N ha−1 year−1 and how these effects are influenced by tree age with increasing number of rotation periods and cycles of organic matter decomposition and tree growth after each harvesting event. Between 2008 and 2012, the leaching of nitrate (NO3 −) was monitored with self-integrating accumulators over 6-month periods and the emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were determined in closed gas chambers. During the first 4 years of the poplar SRC, most nitrogen was lost through NO3 − leaching from the main root zone; however, there was no significant relationship to the rate of N fertilisation. On average, 5.8 kg N ha−1 year−1 (13.0 kg CO2equ) was leached from the root zone. Nitrogen leaching rates decreased in the course of the 4-year study parallel to an increase of the fine root biomass and the degree of mycorrhization. In contrast to N leaching, the loss of nitrogen by N2O emissions from the soil was very low with an average of 0.61 kg N ha−1 year−1 (182 kg CO2equ) and were also not affected by N fertilisation over the whole study period. Real CO2 emissions from the poplar soil were two orders of magnitude higher ranging between 15,122 and 19,091 kg CO2 ha−1 year−1 and followed the rotation period with enhanced emission rates in the years of harvest. As key-factors for NO3 − leaching and N2O emissions, the time after planting and after harvest and the rotation period have been identified by a mixed effects model. © 2017, The Author(s).
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    High-resolution shear-wave seismic reflection as a tool to image near-surface subrosion structures – a case study in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany
    (Göttingen : Copernicus Publ., 2016) Wadas, Sonja H.; Polom, Ulrich; Krawczyk, Charlotte M.
    Subrosion is the subsurface leaching of soluble rocks that results in the formation of depression and collapse structures. This global phenomenon is a geohazard in urban areas. To study near-surface subrosion structures, four shear-wave seismic reflection profiles, with a total length of ca. 332 m, were carried out around the famous leaning church tower of Bad Frankenhausen in northern Thuringia, Germany, which shows an inclination of 4.93° from the vertical. Most of the geological underground of Thuringia is characterized by soluble Permian deposits, and the Kyffhäuser Southern Margin Fault is assumed to be a main pathway for water to leach the evaporite. The seismic profiles were acquired with the horizontal micro-vibrator ELVIS, developed at Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), and a 72 m long landstreamer equipped with 72 horizontal geophones. The high-resolution seismic sections show subrosion-induced structures to a depth of ca. 100 m and reveal five features associated with the leaching of Permian deposits: (1) lateral and vertical varying reflection patterns caused by strongly heterogeneous strata, (2) discontinuous reflectors, small offsets, and faults, which show the underground is heavily fractured, (3) formation of depression structures in the near-surface, (4) diffractions in the unmigrated seismic sections that indicate increased scattering of the seismic waves, and (5) varying seismic velocities and low-velocity zones that are presumably caused by fractures and upward-migrating cavities. A previously undiscovered southward-dipping listric normal fault was also found, to the north of the church. It probably serves as a pathway for water to leach the Permian formations below the church and causes the tilting of the church tower. This case study shows the potential of horizontal shear-wave seismic reflection to image near-surface subrosion structures in an urban environment with a horizontal resolution of less than 1 m in the uppermost 10–15 m.