Comment on "A Reservoir of Nitrate Beneath Desert Soils"

Jackson, RB, ST Berthrong, CW Cook, EG Jobbágy, RL McCulley. 2004.
Comment on "A Reservoir of Nitrate Beneath Desert Soils".
Science 304:51, DOI:10.1126/science.109429.

Walvoord et al. reported a large nitrate pool beneath desert soils (~104 kgN Ha-1) and similarly shaped soil nitrate and chloride profiles. Analyzing 16 new desert cores, we found nitrate values ~1-2 orders of magnitude lower (50-100 kgN Ha-1) and no relationship to chloride profiles. The generality of the deep nitrate pool is questioned.

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