Nitrogen cycling, soil properties and infiltration rates along a topographic gradient in lawns in Baltimore County, Maryland

The aim of this research was to examine how topography and homeowner
fertilizer practices affected soil and hydrologic properties of
residential lawns to determine if there are locations within lawns
that have the potential to act as hotspots of nitrogen transport
during rain events. This data set contains measurements of saturated
infiltration rates, sorptivity, soil moisture, soil organic matter,
pH, soil nitrate, soil ammonium, denitrification potentials and
limiting factors, and nitrogen mineralization rates from fertilized
and unfertilized residential and institutional lawns. Study lawns were
located at homes of people who agreed to volunteer their lawn for the
study from a door knocking campaign. Four sampling houses were located
in an exurban neighborhood in Baisman Run. Five sampling houses were
located in a suburban neighborhood in Dead Run. Two sampling locations
on institutional lawns were located at University of Maryland
Baltimore County. At the exurban study houses and institutional lawns
sites,we identified one hillslope to conduct sampling on. At the Dead
Run houses we identified one hillslope on the front yard and one in
the backyard as there were distinct locations that were not present in
the exurban neighborhood. In total we sampled on 16 hillslopes. At
each hillslope, we identified the top, toe and swale locations. At
each hillslope location, we selected three sampling locations along a
transect (maximum 10 meters in length; total of 144 sampling
locations). At each sampling location we ran a Cornell Sprinkle
Infiltrometer to measure sorptivity and saturated infiltration rates.
Volumetric water content was measured before and after infiltrometer
runs with a Field Scout TDR 300 with 7.5 cm rods. In addition, at each
sampling location we took two soil cores to 10 cm depth, and combined
and homogenized the two cores for that sampling location for a total
of 144 soil samples. Soil cores were stored on ice in the field, and
then stored at 4°C in the lab until processed for variables mentioned
above. Sampling for soil cores was conducted in September 2017 with
one house collected on 11/1/2017 due to changes in homeowner
volunteers. Cornell Sprinkle Infiltrometer measurements were taken in
October 2017 with one exception for house DR3. The front yard was
conducted on 1/30/2018 and the back yard was completed on 2/27/2018
due to scheduling conflicts and weather interference during October
and proceeding months.