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Spatial analysis of selected soil attributes across an alpine topographic/snow gradient

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Abstract

The impact of the topographic/snow gradient on soil processes in alpinetundra on Niwot Ridge of the Colorado Front Range (Rocky mts, USA) was assessedusinggeostatistical modeling and a fractal approach. The mean snow depth, whichmeasured between 1984 and 2000, exhibited a smooth spatial continuity acrossthestudy grid area (550 × 400 meter). Soil color variables showed a nestedstructure that was attributed to a confounded effect of various soil-formingfactors on catenary processes. The spatial structure of texture classesexhibited no spatial structure and was explained by data sparsity,cryoturbation, and biological processes that mask the expected long-distancevariations (i.e., 550-m) of the catenary processes. Organic C, pH, bulkdensity,and soil moisture content showed various degrees of spatial continuity, but allindicated that the topographic/snow gradient is not the only dominantsoil-forming factor in this alpine ecosystem. The estimated fractal dimensionDfor the grid landform and the mean snow depth varied between 1.2 and 1.4,indicating that they vary smoothly with long-range variation. The estimatedDofthe soil variables ranged between 1.6 and 1.8, showing a noisy appearance withshort-range variations. These results strongly suggest that most small andmicro-scale variations in the alpine soil environs resulted from the combinedeffect of cryoturbation, biological activity, parent-material and eoliandeposition, whereas the large-scale variations originated as a result of thetopographic/snow gradient.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, 12210, Israel

    M. Iggy Litaor

  2. EPOB, and INSTAAR, University of Colorado, 80309-0450, Boulder, USA

    T.R. Seastedt

  3. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Fairbanks, 99775-7000, USA

    D.A. Walker

Authors
  1. M. Iggy Litaor
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  2. T.R. Seastedt
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  3. D.A. Walker
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Iggy Litaor, M., Seastedt, T. & Walker, D. Spatial analysis of selected soil attributes across an alpine topographic/snow gradient. Landscape Ecol 17, 71–85 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015216400909

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