Abstract
Water is a limiting factor to plant growth in Horqin Sand Land of China. Knowledge of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K sat) is of importance because K sat influences soil evaporation and water cycling at various scales. In order to analyze the variation of K sat along with sand types and soil depths, and its relationship with soil physiochemical properties, six typical lands were chosen, including mobile dune, fixed dune, pine woodland, poplar woodland, grassland, and cropland, and K sat was measured in situ by Guelph Permeameter at each type of land. Soil bulk density, organic matter content, and soil particle size distribution were determined in parallel with K sat measurement. The results showed that (1) The averaged K sat was decreased in the order: mobile dune > fixed dune > pine woodland > poplar woodland > grassland > cropland; changes in K sat varied considerably as soil depth increased, e.g., the changes of K sat along with soil depth in fixed dune was fitted by exponential model, but it was fitted by parabola model in the pine woodland and grassland. (2) The K sat values of fixed dune and mobile dune were varied considerably among three slope positions (dune top, windward slope, and leeward slope). (3) The relationships of K sat and soil physiochemical property revealed that soil bulk density, organic matter content, and coarse sand fraction (2∼0.1 mm) were the key factors affecting K sat in Horqin Sand Land. Compared with clay and silt content proportion, sand fraction in this region showed a more significant positive correlation with K sat.
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Acknowledgments
Authors are grateful to Dr. X. Y. Zhao (Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Dr. Randy Kutcher (Plant Pathology of Cereal and Flax Crops) for their helpful comments, and to J. Y. Yun (Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for her warmhearted help in field work. This study was partly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (no. 2009CB421303) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 40871004).
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Yao, S., Zhang, T., Zhao, C. et al. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils in the Horqin Sand Land of Inner Mongolia, northern China. Environ Monit Assess 185, 6013–6021 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-3002-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-3002-5