Wind Erosion of Agricultural Soils and the Carbon Cycle - Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits - page 161

13 Wind Erosion of Agricultural Soils
and the Carbon Cycle

Daniel E. Buschiazzo* and Roger Funk

Abstract
Wind erosion is an important process of both progressive and regressive pedogenesis in arid and
semi-arid environments around the world. In semi-arid regions, which are influenced by carbon-poor
dust depositions from deserts, the properties as a sink area should be maintained to enable C enrich-
ment by continued soil formation. On agricultural land, wind erosion is a soil-degrading process, re-
sulting mainly from the very effective sorting processes. Coarse particles remain in the field, whereas
the finest and most valuable parts of the soil get lost, like particles of the silt and clay fractions and soil
organic matter. The latter is not regarded in most carbon balances, although this particulate loss can
reach considerable amounts. The processes of wind erosion are subject to a great spatial and temporal
variability, making its quantification difficult. In this chapter, we expose wind erosion in the context
of its influence on soil organic carbon and prove considerable losses by first measurements.

Introduction

one-quarter on the oceans (Shao et al ., 2011).
Dust depositions may have an important
role in the nutrient cycle of natural ecosys-
tems or low-input agriculture, as shown from
the Amazonas forests (Swap et al ., 1992;
Kaufman et al ., 2005; Koren et al ., 2006) and the
Sudan-Sahelian zone (Jahn, 1995; Herrmann,
1996; Stahr et al ., 1996; Goudie and Middleton,
2001). Dust depositions on the oceans acti-
vate phytoplankton growth, which has a
direct impact on the global carbon cycle and
on carbon sequestration as well, as stated by
the 'iron hypothesis' of Martin and Fitzwater
(1988) and the 'silica hypothesis' of Harrison
(2000). Consequently, there is a close rela-
tionship between the cycles of dust, carbon

Wind erosion is an important process of
both progressive and regressive pedogen-
esis in arid and semi-arid environments
around the world. Soils, which have been
formed by aeolian processes over centuries,
are now endangered to be destroyed by the
same processes within a short time. Associ-
ated dust emissions influence physical and
chemical processes in the atmosphere, have
negative effects on air quality and affect
other ecosystems far away from the source
areas. About 2000 Mt dust are emitted each
year into the atmosphere, of which three-
quarters are deposited on land surfaces and