Abstract
uring the last ice age, ice sheets advanced and retreated across the upper Midwest, leaving behind a landscape characterized by poorly drained hummocky topography. Well-aerated soils have formed on uplands and lowlands are dominated by hydric soils. These wetlands and hydric soils have potential to store large quantities of carbon, particularly compared to the well-aerated uplands, but many have been drained and cultivated for decades. Conservation agriculture methods have emerged to protect and conserve soil health from negative effects due to cultivation.The purpose of this study is to determine how agricultural management practices and landscape properties (e.g, topographic position) affect soil health. Soil cores were collected to a depth of 30 cm from six topographic positions and three management practices. Topographic positions include lowlands, toeslope, footslope, backslope, shoulder, and summit; management practices include cultivated cropland, conservation tillage cropland, and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland. Accounting for topography is critical in this gently undulating landscape. Cores were analyzed for a host of soil health indicators. Results indicate there are distinct differences in soil properties based on topographic position and management practices. Lowland positions with hydric soils have lower bulk density and higher organic matter, organic carbon, silt, phosphorus, and cation exchange capacity compared to the well-aerated and more erosive upland positions regardless of land management. Land management also has a distinct impact with CRP grasslands having higher microbial respiration and aggregate stability compared to conventional and conservation tillage cropland. Conservation tillage croplands had higher cation exchange capacity than conventional and CRP grasslands, while having similar levels of organic carbon as conventional croplands. These data highlight that not only is land management an important control on soil health, but natural landscape variability also impacts soil health.
Advisor
Mark Bowen
Committee Member
Mriganka De
Committee Member
Beth Fisher
Date of Degree
2026
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Program of Study
Geography
Department
Geography and Anthropology
College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Recommended Citation
Makovsky, M. D. (2026). Soil organic carbon and soil health property responses to land managment across topographic positions [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/1632/
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Geomorphology Commons, Soil Science Commons
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