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Catchment scale spatial variability of soil salt content in agricultural oasis, Northwest China

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Soil salinization is a serious environmental problem in the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Therefore, estimating spatial variability of soil salinity plays an important role in environmental sciences. Aiming at the problem of soil salinization inside an oasis, a case study was carried out at the Sangong River catchment in Xinjiang province, northwest China. Methods of classical statistics, geostatistics, remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) were applied to estimate the spatial variability of soil salt content in the topsoil (0–20 cm) and its relationship with landscape structure at catchment scale. The objective of this study was to provide a scientific basis to understand the heterogeneous of spatial distribution of soil salt content at a large scale. The results revealed that (1) elevation of landform was a key factor for soil salt content’s spatial variability, and soil salt content had a strong spatial autocorrelation, which was mainly induced by structural factors. (2) Mapping of soil salt content by Kriging and comparing it with landscape maps showed that area of soil salinization in old oasis was smaller than that in new oasis, and degree of soil salinization in old oasis was also lower than that in the new one. Among all landscapes, cropland was mostly affected by salinity, with 38.8% of the cropland in new oasis moderately affected by soil salinity, and 8.54% in old oasis.

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Acknowledgments

This research is sponsored by the Knowledge Innovation project of the Chinese Academy of Science (No. KZCX2-YW-431) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40701187). The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Science, 40-3 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830011, People’s Republic of China

    Yugang Wang & Yan Li

  2. Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenyang, 110016, People’s Republic of China

    Duning Xiao

Authors
  1. Yugang Wang
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  2. Yan Li
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  3. Duning Xiao
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Correspondence to Yan Li.

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Wang, Y., Li, Y. & Xiao, D. Catchment scale spatial variability of soil salt content in agricultural oasis, Northwest China. Environ Geol 56, 439–446 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1181-0

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