Soil erosion by aeolian action at an intensively cultivated lowland peatland

Drainage of UK lowland peatlands has been undertaken over the last 400 years in order to exploit the productivity of carbon (C) rich peat soils. Management practices are such that many hectares of drained peatland remain un-vegetated for large periods of the year leaving the peat exposed and vulnerable to erosion and transportation by wind action, in events locally known as ‘fen blows’. The impacts of management activity on peatland C budgets have received much attention in relation to losses of soil C in the form of carbon dioxide (CO₂), whereas transport of C through aeolian pathways has remained largely unquantified. Here, horizontal mass flux of C across an agricultural field is quantified over three years using Big Springs Number Eight (BSNE’s) dust samplers and co-located micrometeorological measurements. Relationships between windblown sediment yield and wind speed and near-surface soil moisture content are assessed in combination with the influences of agricultural land management practices.