Long-term soil hydrological data of a Pleistocene region in North-East Germany

Abstract

Long-term soil hydrological studies were carried out at the ZALF Muencheberg Experimental Station. Muencheberg is located in a Pleistocene end moraine landscape in NE Germany about 50 km east of Berlin and 40 km west of the Oder river, the border with Poland. The soils are formed on Pleistocene parent material, classified as Haplic Albeluvisol with a Bt horizon mostly beginning at about 70 cm depth. From 1994-1999 the site was used as arable land managed by different farming systems (integrated, integrated with irrigation, ecological and low input). From 2000 to 2005 the effect of different tillage systems (plough and no till) was investigated. Furthermore, soil water was extracted by use of suction cups for analysing the soil water nitrate concentrations. The data were used for quantifying deep drainage rates and nitrate losses as described in (Schindler and Mueller, 2008 and Schindler et al., 2010). All basic data (soil water content, tension, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration and soil water nitrate concentrations) are accessible via DOI 10.4228/ZALF.1995.282