Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Coastal Acid Sulfate Soils, Northern N.S.W
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VOLATILE SULFUR COMPOUNDS IN COASTAL ACID SULFATE SOILS, NORTHERN N.S.W Andrew Stephen Kinsela A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA 2007 DECLARATION ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed ………………………………………………… Date …………………………………………………… iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are numerous people who have assisted me throughout the course of my thesis. I therefore want to take this opportunity to thank a few of those who contributed appreciably, both directly and indirectly. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Mike Melville. Mike’s initial teachings as part of my undergraduate studies first sparked my interest in soils. Since then his continued enthusiasm on the subject has helped shape the way I approach my own work. His dedicated support on both an intellectual and personal level has provided much of the driving force behind the completion of my thesis. The group of academics surrounding me throughout my candidature has made completing my project that little bit easier and a lot more enjoyable. Dr Ben Macdonald from the Australian National University (ANU) has been an excellent source of support, particularly regarding the friendship and assistance provided during fieldwork missions, but also with the numerous discussions about the direction of my thesis. Along with Dr Macdonald, the unsurpassed expertise in micrometeorological techniques provided by Dr Tom Denmead (CSIRO Land & Water) made large sections of my project possible. Initial meetings and advice within the early stages of my thesis with Professors Ian White (ANU) and David Waite (UNSW) largely shaped the direction my thesis, of which I am greatly appreciative. Being part of a school that was not all that encouraging to the research undertaken by my supervisor I am also indebted to the support provided by my fellow acid sulfate soil doctoral researcher at UNSW, Jason Reynolds. Our frequent discussions on aspects of our projects and general philosophising were both a valuable asset to the advancement of my project as well as a welcome diversion from it. I also wish to thank my fellow PhD students that I have worked with over the course of my project, again particularly for their assistance in the field and laboratory; Mira Dürr Acknowledgments v and Richard Reilly from ANU and Dr Jodie Smith from UNSW. Similarly, those students who were not necessarily involved with my project (either in the former School of Geography or within BEES) were also important in preserving my sanity. The technical support provided, especially by Dorothy Yu, but also Irene Wainwright, Dr Gautam Chattopathy and Dr Richard Stuertz (all of UNSW) was also much appreciated; along with the administrative support provided almost single-handedly in BEES by Dr Louise Mazarolli. Finally, I could not have completed my thesis without the love and support that I have received from my family; Mum, Dad and my sister Rebecca. I also particularly want to thank my girlfriend Ana Markovic, who has (foolishly?) stuck by me for the entire duration of my PhD, whilst undertaking the same painful experience in completing her own doctorate. The highs and lows that we have both experienced together in our respective fields will never be forgotten (no matter how much electro-shock therapy is endured). Acknowledgments vi PUBLICATIONS / CONFERENCES Much of the work has been published in refereed journal articles and conference proceedings, or presented at national and international conferences, listed below; REFEREED PUBLICATIONS Kinsela AS, Melville MD (2004) Mechanisms of acid sulfate soil oxidation and leaching under sugarcane cropping. Australian Journal of Soil Research 42, 569- 578. Macdonald BCT, Smith J, Keene AF, Tunks M, Kinsela A, White I (2004) Impacts of runoff from sulfuric soils on sediment chemistry in an estuarine lake. Science of the Total Environment 329, 115-130. Dürr M, Kinsela A, Macdonald BCT, White I (2004) Influence of land use on the emission of sulfur dioxide from acid sulfate soils. In 'Supersoil 2004: Program and Abstracts for the 3rd Australian New Zealand Soils Conference', University of Sydney. (Ed B Singh). (The Regional Institute Ltd) Kinsela AS, Reynolds JK, Melville MD (2007) Agricultural acid sulfate soils: a potential source of volatile sulfur compounds? Environmental Chemistry 4, 18-25. BOOK CHAPTERS Macdonald BCT, White I, Heath L, Smith J, Keene AF, Tunks M, Kinsela A (2006) Tracing the outputs from drained acid sulphate floodplains to minimize threats to coastal lakes. In ‘Environment and Livelihoods in Tropical Coastal Zones: Managing Agriculture- Fishery-Aquaculture Conflicts’ (Eds CT Hoanh, TP Tuong, JW Gowing, B Hardy). (CABI, Wallingford, U.K.) PUBLICATIONS IN PROCESS Kinsela AS, Macdonald BCT, Melville MD, White I, Reynolds JK, Denmead OT (In prep.) Field measurements of sulfur gas emissions from an agricultural acid sulfate soil, Eastern Australia. Macdonald BCT, Denmead OT, White I, Melville MD, Kinsela AS (In prep.) Harmful gas emissions from coastal soils? Reynolds JK, Kinsela AS, Melville MD, White I, Macdonald BCT, Waite TD (In prep.) Iron, sulfur and manganese geochemistry in a coastal lowland sulfidic sediment. Reynolds JK, Kinsela AS, Macdonald BCT, Melville DM (In prep.) Acidity and nitrate relationships during a flood event, Tweed River floodplain, NSW, Australia. Publications / Conferences vii CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Quirk R, Melville MD, Waite TD, Desmier R, Kinsela AS, Reynolds J, Smith J, Keene A, Macdonald BCT, White I, Donner E (2005) Acid sulfate soils: their drainage, oxidation, and best management. In ‘Proceedings of American Association for the Advancement of Science First International Conference’, New Orleans, U.S.A. Denmead O, Macdonald B, White I, Reilly R, Kinsela A, Melville M, Griffith D, and Bryant G (2005) Acid sulfate soils: a new source of sulfur and greenhouse gases. In: Amstel, A. 4th International Symposium on non-CO2 greenhouse gases (NCGG-4), science, control, policy and implementation, 4-6 July 2005, Utrecht, Netherlands. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Millpress Science Publishers: 169-177. WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS Denmead OT, Macdonald BCT, White I, Reilly R, Kinsela A, Melville MD, Griffith DWT, Bryant G. (2006) Impacts of Acid Sulfate Soils on Air Quality. In ‘Proceedings of the Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science, Potomac, U.S.A., June 5-8’, (Eds Aneja VP et al.) pp. 575-582. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Kinsela AS, Melville MD, Macdonald BCT, White I, Denmead OT (2004) Sulfur gas emissions from coastal acid sulfate soils. Supersoil 2004: Proceedings of the 3rd Australian and New Zealand Soils Conference, University of Sydney, Australia, 5-9 December 2004. Kinsela AS, Reynolds JK, Melville MD (2006) Acid sulfate soils: a source of volatile sulfur compounds? Soil Science Solving Problems Proceedings of the 4th Australian and New Zealand Soils Conference, University of Adelaide, Australia, 3-7 December 2006. CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS/PRESENTATIONS (presented by others) Denmead OT, Macdonald BCT, Kinsela A, White I, Melville MD (2004) Emission of sulfur gases from acid sulfate soils. 26th Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vancouver, Canada. Donner E, Keene A, Kinsela A, Smith J, Desmier R, Reynolds J, Macdonald BCT, White I, Tunks M, Quirk R,. Melville MD (2004) Is artificial drainage the cause of acid sulfate soil profile oxidation? Supersoil 2004: Proceedings of the 3rd Australian New Zealand Soils Conference, University of Sydney, Australia, 5-9 December. Kinsela AS, Melville MD, Macdonald BCT, White I, Denmead OT (2005) Sulfur gas emissions from coastal acid sulfate soils. 1st International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, New Orleans, U.S.A. Publications / Conferences viii Macdonald BCT, White I, Åström ME, Keene AF, Reynolds J, Kinsela A, Österholm P (2005) Acid and metal discharges from acid sulfate soils, eastern Australia and Finland. 1st International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, New Orleans, U.S.A. Denmead OT, Macdonald BCT, White I, Reilly R, Kinsela A, Melville MD, Griffith DWT, Bryant G (2005) Acid sulfate soils: a new source of sulfur- and greenhouse-gases. Fourth International Symposium on Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases (NCGG-4): Science, Control, Policy and Implementation (Ed. A. van Amstel), 4-6 July 2005, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Publications / Conferences ix ABSTRACT The cycling of biogenic volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) within marine and terrestrial ecosystems has been shown to play an integral role in atmospheric chemistry; by influencing global climate change through the creation of cloud condensation nuclei and controlling