Please plan to join us this Friday, October 30 from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM for the Nexus Postdoctoral Researcher webinar.

Lucía Zúñiga, a newly graduated Purdue Master student, will be presenting the webinar titled: "Transformation of the hyper-arid desert soils in Arequipa Peru during four decades of irrigated agriculture".

Lucía is part of the Nexus project: "Soil, Health, Impairment, and Vulnerability Assessment (SHIVA)" led by Dr. Tim Filley (Purdue University) and Dr. Martin Villalta (UNSA).

Presentation Summary:

Over the past 40 years, Peru has led some of the largest scale water management projects on earth to convert unproductive coastal desert areas into irrigated agricultural land. The increase and expansion of irrigation projects in Peru require the consideration of direct environmental impacts of agriculture practices such as groundwater quality, soil salinity, heavy metals accumulation and overuse of fertilizer and pesticides. This thesis presents a study to assess how drip irrigation impacts desert soil chemistry within one of Peru’s desert irrigation projects in Majes, Arequipa. We explored a chronosequence of drip irrigation in vineyards of 9-, 16- and 35- years. Results showed that both soil carbon and salinity accumulated progressively over time but that spatial accumulation patterns were influenced by proximity to the irrigation drip line. By 35 years, salinity levels exceeded what would be tolerances for most crops. Trace metals, such as Mn, Zn, and Ni, increased with time under drip irrigation and have significant relationships with Fe, present in the highest concentrations, controlling the patterns due to co-precipitation. However, we did not find trace metals in quantities that would exceed Peru’s limits for agricultural soils. While drip irrigation is considered a water conservation strategy and widely promoted in the region over other irrigation techniques like high water volume furrow irrigation, its use may accelerate localized negative impacts to surface soil health. These progressive changes highlight the need for effective monitoring and salinity mitigation strategies in the region. 

Please follow the Zoom link bellow to join the Webinar:

https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/95665063613?pwd=ZXFXSnZpM1dBSFc2N2FpYkkvRkJJUT09