Fine-resolution profile-scale data to depict the impact of tillage treatment and machine traffic on agricultural soil structure and hydrologic properties.

This data article provides high spatial resolution (1 cm) datasets and related figures of the penetrometer resistance (PR) and soil bulk density (BD) data of nine agricultural 50 × 160 cm soil profiles exposed to three tillage treatments and including a wheel track. Soil treatments are moldboard plowing (MP), deep loosening (DL), and minimum tillage (MT). It also provides bulk density data, soil moisture content at various suctions and the parameters of van Genuchten's model for 27 soil cores, and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of 49 soil cores. Both sample sets were sampled to cover the profile heterogeneity in two agricultural plots subjected to moldboard plowing and minimum tillage. Examples of reuse potential include (i) the use of these spatially explicit data in studies seeking to understand better and integrate the effect of treatment and machine traffic-induced soil structure in soil hydraulic and soil physical quality, and (ii) the development of pedotransfer functions with data incorporating the soil structural heterogeneity. This Data in Brief article complements the companion paper by Alonso et al. (2021) "A hybrid method for characterizing tillage-induced soil physical quality at the profile scale with fine spatial detail" in Soil and Tillage Research[1].

Identification of the nitrate contamination sources of the Brusselian sands groundwater body (Belgium) using a dual-isotope approach.

Isotopic fingerprinting is an advanced technique allowing the classification of the nitrate source pollution of groundwater, but needs further development and validation. In this study, we performed measurements of natural stable isotopic composition of nitrate ((15)N and (18)O) in the groundwater body of the Brussels sands (Belgium) and studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of the isotope signature of this aquifer. Potential nitrogen sources sampled in the region had isotopic signatures that fell within the corresponding typical ranges found in the literature. For a few monitoring stations, the isotopic data strongly suggest that the sources of nitrate are from mineral fertiliser origin, as used in agriculture and golf courses. Other stations suggest that manure leaching from unprotected stockpiles in farms, domestic gardening practices, septic tanks and probably cemeteries contribute to the nitrate pollution of this groundwater body. For most monitoring stations, nitrate originates from a mixing of several nitrogen sources. The isotopic signature of the groundwater body was poorly structured in space, but exhibited a clear temporal structure. This temporal structure could be explained by groundwater recharge dynamics and cycling process of nitrogen in the soil-nitrogen pool.