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Response of soil hydrological processes to soil rock fragments: A global Meta-analysis

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Abstract

The rock fragment (RF) has been widely observed in the soil solum or on the soil surface. It regulates soil hydrological processes (SHPs) and thus has great impacts on soil and water conservation. However, responses of SHPs to RF characteristics (position, content, coverage area, mulching thickness, and size) remain unclear. Based on the dataset extracted from 168 published studies, effects of RF characteristics on SHPs (soil loss rate, evaporation rate, surface runoff rate, infiltration rate, soil water content, and soil water storage) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) were discussed in this study. Results showed that RFs completely inserted into the soil solum (CO_INS) improved the Ks by 6.9%, runoff rate by 12.8%, and soil loss rate by 22.3%, while it reduced the evaporation rate by 30.7%, infiltration rate by 15.4%, and soil water content by 9.9%. With the RF content (kg kg−1) increasing, its effects on these SHPs were strengthened. The RFs resting on the surface and partially covering soil surface (PA_COV) improved the infiltration rate but reduced the evaporation rate by 36.9%, surface runoff rate by 25.4%, and soil loss rate by 59.3%. This in turn enhanced soil water content and storage. However, as the RF coverage (% in area) increasing, the cross-sectional area of water flow decreased, and thus the infiltration rate reduced. The RFs completely mulch on the soil surface (CO_MUL) reduced the evaporation rate by 59.5% and infiltration rate by 76.5% but improved the soil water content and storage. Except the infiltration rate, the effects of CO_MUL on SHPs were strengthened as mulch thickness (cm) increased. The RFs partially embedded into soil surface (PA_EMB) promoted surface runoff rate by 15.3%, soil loss rate by 34.7%, and soil water content by 24.3%, but reduce the infiltration rate. However, the surface runoff rate was reduced at high embedded coverage due to increased tortuosity of water flow. In addition, the RF size exerted weaker effects on SHPs than RF positions, content, coverage, and mulch thickness. Our findings enhanced the understanding of SHP responses to RFs characteristics, which would be important for relate soil and water modeling and management.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42125103 & 42271061), and the Frontier and Fundamental Research Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20220042).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Yongwu Wang, Qing Zhu, Xiaoming Lai, Kaihua Liao & Changqiang Guo

  2. College of Nanjing, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 211135, China

    Yongwu Wang, Qing Zhu, Xiaoming Lai, Kaihua Liao & Changqiang Guo

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  1. Yongwu Wang
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Correspondence to Qing Zhu or Xiaoming Lai.

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Wang, Y., Zhu, Q., Lai, X. et al. Response of soil hydrological processes to soil rock fragments: A global Meta-analysis. Sci. China Earth Sci. 66, 2066–2080 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1132-4

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