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Soil quality monitoring in the Waikato Region 2013

TR 2015/41
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Report: TR 2015/41

Author: Matthew Taylor

About this report

Under section 35 of the Resource management Act 1991, Waikato Regional Council has a duty to monitor the environment. Waikato Regional Council monitors soil quality at 152 sites across the region. Sites were chosen to be representative of geographical spread, land uses and soil types. This report provides baseline data and allows identification of the impacts of land use and associated key soil quality issues that have emerged over the last 10 years.

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Soil quality monitoring in the Waikato Region 2013 [PDF, 1.3 MB]

Contents
  Executive summary v
1 Introduction 1
2 Objectives 1
3 Methods 1
3.1 Sampling 1
3.2 Indicators 3
3.3 Indicator target ranges 4
3.4 Laboratory analysis 4
3.5 Reporting basis 4
3.6 Statistical methods 5
4 Status of soil quality indicators in 2013 5
4.1 Status of soil quality indicator sites in 2013 5
4.2 The state of the Waikato Region’s soils by land area 5
5 Effect of land use on soil quality indicators in 2013 7
5.1 Overview 7
5.2 The effect of land use on soil pH 9
5.3 The effect of land use on soil total carbon 10
5.4 The effect of land use on soil total nitrogen 11
5.5 The effect of land use on Olsen P 12
5.6 The effect of land use on soil Anaerobically Mineralised Nitrogen (AMN) 13
5.7 The effect of land use on soil bulk density 14
5.8 The effect of land use on macroporosity 15
6 Effect of land use on environmental indicators in 2013 16
6.1 Introduction 16
6.2 The effect of land use on aggregate stability 17
6.3 The Carbon:Nitrogen ratio 18
7 Trends in meeting indicator targets 19
8 Key issues 20
8.1 Introduction 20
8.2 Surface compaction 20
8.3 Loss of soil organic matter 21
8.4 Excessive or deficient nutrient levels 23
8.5 Erosion and soil stability 26
9 Conclusions 28
  References 30
  Appendix 1: Target ranges for soil quality indicators 32
  Appendix 2: Data on land uses meeting indicator targets 35