Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects
Depending on its depth from the soil surface, shallow groundwater can represent a valuable water resource to alleviate droughts, or a stress agent that causes waterlogging and flooding in rainfed crops. Groundwater depth varies across space, following landscape topographic features; through time, ac...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2018
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| Acceso en línea: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415301050 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2928 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.09.013 |
| _version_ | 1855483146714218496 |
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| author | Mercau, Jorge Luis Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel Bert, Federico Esteban Giménez, Raúl Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel |
| author_browse | Bert, Federico Esteban Giménez, Raúl Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel Mercau, Jorge Luis Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel |
| author_facet | Mercau, Jorge Luis Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel Bert, Federico Esteban Giménez, Raúl Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel |
| author_sort | Mercau, Jorge Luis |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Depending on its depth from the soil surface, shallow groundwater can represent a valuable water resource to alleviate droughts, or a stress agent that causes waterlogging and flooding in rainfed crops. Groundwater depth varies across space, following landscape topographic features; through time, accompanying climate fluctuations; and may also shift in both dimensions in response to crop choice. We evaluated the contribution of climate, topography and crop choice on the variability of groundwater depth in rainfed systems of western Pampas, throughout a five year period of extreme precipitation fluctuation (2008–2013). Sixteen permanent monitoring wells were installed in four different topographic settings along the smoothly rolling landscape, covering the three phases of a maize–soybean–wheat/soybean rotation, common in the region. Water table dynamics, measured at weekly to monthly intervals, was very similar across landscape positions, with a range of depth from the surface of −0.2 (flood) to 1.8 m and 1.8–4.4 m in the lowest and highest positions, respectively. At the inter-annual scale, water table fluctuations were predominantly dictated by climate variability with no effect due to the implanted crop. Only at the intra-annual scale, crop choice appeared as a relevant control, with wheat–soybean flattening the spring level rises and summer drops repeatedly found under maize and soybean single crops. Daily meteorological data and remote sensing estimates of live and dead crop cover were used to simulate transpiration demand and soil evaporation. As the balance between precipitation and crop evapotranspiration was positive/negative, watertables raised/dropped 0.21 cm mm−1 (n = 80, R2 0.32) and 0.22 cm mm−1 (n = 1092, R2 0.31) at inter and intra-annual scales, respectively. While crop choice may influence water table levels within a growing season, it has only a subtle effect on year to year fluctuation. With the explored annual crop options, farmers in the Pampas could reduce spring flooding risk when sowing double crops but cannot have a substantial effect on the longer term dynamics of the water table. |
| format | Artículo |
| id | INTA2928 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA29282019-03-27T13:54:24Z Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects Mercau, Jorge Luis Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel Bert, Federico Esteban Giménez, Raúl Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel Aguas Subterráneas Clima Paisaje Cultivos Sistemas de Explotación Uso del Agua Groundwater Climate Landscape Crops Farming Systems Water Use Región Pampeana Depending on its depth from the soil surface, shallow groundwater can represent a valuable water resource to alleviate droughts, or a stress agent that causes waterlogging and flooding in rainfed crops. Groundwater depth varies across space, following landscape topographic features; through time, accompanying climate fluctuations; and may also shift in both dimensions in response to crop choice. We evaluated the contribution of climate, topography and crop choice on the variability of groundwater depth in rainfed systems of western Pampas, throughout a five year period of extreme precipitation fluctuation (2008–2013). Sixteen permanent monitoring wells were installed in four different topographic settings along the smoothly rolling landscape, covering the three phases of a maize–soybean–wheat/soybean rotation, common in the region. Water table dynamics, measured at weekly to monthly intervals, was very similar across landscape positions, with a range of depth from the surface of −0.2 (flood) to 1.8 m and 1.8–4.4 m in the lowest and highest positions, respectively. At the inter-annual scale, water table fluctuations were predominantly dictated by climate variability with no effect due to the implanted crop. Only at the intra-annual scale, crop choice appeared as a relevant control, with wheat–soybean flattening the spring level rises and summer drops repeatedly found under maize and soybean single crops. Daily meteorological data and remote sensing estimates of live and dead crop cover were used to simulate transpiration demand and soil evaporation. As the balance between precipitation and crop evapotranspiration was positive/negative, watertables raised/dropped 0.21 cm mm−1 (n = 80, R2 0.32) and 0.22 cm mm−1 (n = 1092, R2 0.31) at inter and intra-annual scales, respectively. While crop choice may influence water table levels within a growing season, it has only a subtle effect on year to year fluctuation. With the explored annual crop options, farmers in the Pampas could reduce spring flooding risk when sowing double crops but cannot have a substantial effect on the longer term dynamics of the water table. EEA San Luis Fil: Mercau, Jorge Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Luis; Argentina Fil: Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; Argentina Fil: Bert, Federico Esteban. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina Fil: Giménez, Raúl. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; Argentina Fil: Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; Argentina 2018-07-31T13:15:18Z 2018-07-31T13:15:18Z 2016-01-01 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415301050 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2928 0378-3774 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.09.013 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess application/pdf Agricultural Water Management 163 : 159-168 (January 2016) |
| spellingShingle | Aguas Subterráneas Clima Paisaje Cultivos Sistemas de Explotación Uso del Agua Groundwater Climate Landscape Crops Farming Systems Water Use Región Pampeana Mercau, Jorge Luis Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel Bert, Federico Esteban Giménez, Raúl Jobbagy Gampel, Esteban Gabriel Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title | Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title_full | Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title_fullStr | Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title_short | Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects |
| title_sort | shallow groundwater dynamics in the pampas climate landscape and crop choice effects |
| topic | Aguas Subterráneas Clima Paisaje Cultivos Sistemas de Explotación Uso del Agua Groundwater Climate Landscape Crops Farming Systems Water Use Región Pampeana |
| url | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415301050 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2928 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.09.013 |
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