Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 756-766.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.05.08

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Dynamic changes in soil moisture and its response to rainfall in Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantation in Horqin Sandy Land

JIJI Jiamen1,2(),CHENG Yiben1(),CHEN Linglong1,WAN Pengxiang1,ZHANG Yihui1,YANG Wenbin2,BAI Xuying1,WANG Tao3   

  1. 1. School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
    2. Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    3. Inner Mongolia Low Coverage Sand Control Technology Development Co., Ltd., Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2022-08-13 Revised:2022-10-11 Online:2023-05-15 Published:2023-05-30

Abstract:

After ecological restoration in Horqin Sandy Land, the soil moisture dynamics of the forest and its response to rainfall affect whether Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica(PSM) can be continuously used for the ecological restoration in the same type of area. To study the characteristics of soil moisture dynamics after vegetation restoration on the southern edge of Horqin Sandy Land, this study used the methods of in situ observation and numerical simulation and corrected the HYDRUS-1D model based on the measured data of soil moisture to explore its relationship with rainfall. We obtained the following results: (1) The regional moisture distribution was changed by the PSM plantation, deep soil recharge at 2.0 m in bare sand accounted for 44.16% of the annual rainfall, whereas deep soil recharge at 2.0 m in PSM land accounted for only 0.7% of the annual rainfall. (2) Soil moisture below a depth of 0.4 m had no response to light rain, but the response depth of soil moisture to moderate rain could reach 1.0 m. The response depth to heavy rain and rainstorm involved the entire observation profile. With increasing soil depth, a decreasing trend was observed in the variation in moisture fluctuation. (3) There was a strong correlation between rainfall and volumetric soil water content at shallow depth, and the cumulative rainfall at weekly and semi-monthly intervals was significantly correlated with the volumetric soil water content of each layer(P<0.05). Rainfall >50 mm can ensure the supply of soil moisture within 2.0 m. (4) The determination coefficient of the model was between 0.61 and 0.85, and the root mean square error ranged from 0.0061 to 0.0096 cm -3·cm -3. The accuracy of the deep layer simulation was higher than that of the shallow layer. These results have important implications for rain-fed vegetation afforestation in the Horqin Sandy Land.

Key words: rainfall infiltration, soil moisture, deep soil recharge, Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica, Horqin Sandy Land