Methane emission levels from dumpsite soil cores in the Mt. Makiling area

Date

5-2005

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Chemistry

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Josefina L. Solivas

Abstract

Soil core samples from a dumpsite in the Makiling Forest Reserve in Los Baños, Laguna were collected using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) core samplers sealed gas-tight. Soil core samples were also collected from agricultural (cultivated) and forest soils as reference for comparison of the methane emission levels with that of the dumpsite soil cores. The methane fluxes from the headspace of the PVCs were collected and analyzed using Varian 3400 Gas Chromatograph (GC) equipped with Flame lonization Detector (FID). The average daily methane emission from the dumpsite soil core was measured at 11.58 mg CH4/kg soil /day, which was relatively higher than emissions from forest soil core (5.94 mg CH4/kg soil /day) and agricultural soil core (2.50 mg CH4/kg soil /day). On the basis of the calculated daily methane flux and soil properties, it was estimated that the total methane flux from Makiling dumpsite was 10.65 ton CH4/Ha/ year. This was significantly higher compared with the forest soil (5.12 ton CH4/Ha /year) and the agricultural soil (2.45 ton CH4/Ha/ year) Physico-chemical analyses of soil core samples showed that methane emission may be related to some soil factors. Results indicated that methane emission was positively related to soil pH, amount of organic matter, soil and air temperatures and the amount of sand. On the other hand, methane emission was found to be negatively related to soil bulk density, amount of clay, exchange acidity and amount of soluble iron. Other soil parameters such as moisture content, total nitrogen, available phosphorous and cation exchange capacity (CEC) did not show significant or apparent relationship with methane emission levels in all the three soil core samples analyzed.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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