Soil solution chemistry of a nitrogene-saturated Beech-forest ecosystem inNorthern Hesse (Case study Zierenberg)

Within the case study Zierenberg, the element bilance of a 155 years old Be ech forest has been investigated since 1989. The study area is located in a higher elevation (450 m) in northern Hesse. The soil of basaltic debris ha s got a base-saturation between 90 % and 100% and is characterized by high proportions of magnesium, The nitrogen storage in the soil amounts to 10 t/ ha to 11 t/ha. The investigation of the multivariate soil solution data was conducted by m ethods of the explorative data analysis to find essential dependences betwe en the soil solution parameters. A multivariate regression model was used t o explain data variability to a certain extend with linear and seasonal tre nds. In the subsoil, the nitrate concentrations are rising for annually 38 mu mo l(c)/l. The mean annual seepage output of nitrogen amounts to 1.23 kmol/ha. The covariance analyses shows nitrat in the subsoil is accompanied by magn esium in order to compensate for the electric charge. Sulphate concentratio n has decreased significantly. Peaks of sulphate are accompanied manganese release, in the upper soil also by lower pH-values and in the subsoil by a relative enrichment of organic nitrogen.