Arid Zone Research ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 1355-1366.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2021.05.17

• Soil Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution characteristics of soil organic carbon in Xilin Gol steppe and its influencing factors

CHANG Shuai1(),YU Hongbo1(),CAO Congming1,MA Zice1,2,LIU Yuexuan1,LI Xiang1   

  1. 1. College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. School of Geography and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241199, Anhui, China
  • Received:2020-10-25 Revised:2021-02-01 Online:2021-09-15 Published:2021-09-24
  • Contact: Hongbo YU E-mail:1904591195@qq.com;1106275721@qq.com

Abstract:

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important indicator of soil nutrient content and quality. The study of SOC in different steppe types assists ecological restoration and rational land use projects. This study was conducted in the Xilin Gol steppe, and used the Kriging interpolation, correlation analysis, unary linear regression, and principal component analysis to explore the spatial differentiation of SOC and identify its influencing factors. The results showed that: (1) In the meadow steppe, SOC content in 0-10 cm, 20-30 cm, and 40-50 cm soil layers was 23.28 g·kg-1,12.71 g·kg-1, and 9.28 g·kg-1, respectively; in the typical steppe it was 16.75 g·kg-1, 10.75 g·kg-1, and 7.20 g·kg-1, respectively; in the desert steppe, the content was 1.62 g·kg-1, 2.00 g·kg-1, and 1.73 g·kg-1, respectively. Also, results showed that the SOC content in the meadow and typical steppes gradually decreased with the increase of soil depth, while there was no significant difference between different soil layers in the desert steppe. (2) Different steppe types had different influences on SOC content. For the same soil layer depth, the SOC content order was basically meadow steppe>typical steppe>desert steppe. The SOC content in the horizontal direction was consistent with the distribution of vegetation coverage, showing a trend of gradual decrease from southeast to northwest. (3) Correlation analysis showed that SOC was significantly (P<0.01) and negatively correlated with altitude, temperature, and pH; and significantly (P<0.01) and positively correlated with precipitation, soil water content, available nitrogen, and available phosphorus. It had no significant correlation (P>0.05) with slope, aspect, and available potassium. (4) The main factors affecting SOC were available nitrogen, precipitation, and temperature; the secondary factors were soil water content and available potassium. Therefore, attention should be paid to the control of nitrogen intake and hydrothermal conditions in different steppe types.

Key words: soil organic carbon, distribution characteristics, influencing factors, Xilin Gol steppe