Critical Loads of Acid Deposition on Soil in China

Abstract

Critical loads of acid deposition havebeen mapped for Chinese soils using a modifiedsemi-quantitative method, which is based on theminerals controlling weathering and soil development,and corrected by introducing an Arrhenius relationshipto describe the effect of temperature and a weightedaveraging approach to evaluate the effect of soiltexture, land use and precipitation. As a consequenceof these modifications, the method has been quantifiedand can be more widely used. Results from this studyshow that the lowest critical loads of acid depositionin China, i.e., those areas most sensitive to aciddeposition, occur in the Podzolic soils in theNortheast, followed by Latosol, Dark brown forest soiland Black soil areas. The Ferralsol areas in SouthChina are intermediate, tolerating about 0.8–1.6 g m^-2 yr^-1 sulfur deposition. The highestcritical loads of acid deposition are mainly locatedin the Alpine soil areas on the Plateau of Tibet andareas of Xerosol and Podocal soil in Northwest China.The reason for lower critical loads in the Northeastrelative to South China can be attributed to thedifference of temperature, soil moisture and soiltexture. Comparison of critical loads with the sulfurdeposition in 1995 identifies almost one fourth of theland area in southeast China to be subject to risk of acidification.