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The spatial relationship between human activities and C, N, P, S in soil based on landscape geochemical interpretation

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Abstract

The development and formation of chemical elements in soil are affected not only by parent material, climate, biology, and topology factors, but also by human activities. As the main elements supporting life on earth system, the C, N, P, S cycles in soil have been altered by human activity through land-use change, agricultural intensification, and use of fossil fuels. The present study attempts to analyze whether and how a connection can be made between macroscopical control and microcosmic analysis, to estimate the impacts of human activities on C, N, P, S elements in soil, and to determine a way to describe the spatial relationship between C, N, P, S in soil and human activities, by means of landscape geochemical theories and methods. In addition, the disturbances of human activities on C, N, P, S are explored through the analysis of the spatial relationship between human disturbed landscapes and element anomalies, thereby determining the diversified rules of the effects. The study results show that the rules of different landscapes influencing C, N, P, S elements are diversified, and that the C element is closely related to city landscapes; furthermore, the elements N, P, and S are shown to be closely related to river landscapes; the relationships between mine landscapes and the elements C, N, P, S are apparent; the relationships between the elements C, N, P, S and road landscapes are quite close, which shows that road landscapes have significant effects on these elements. Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that the response mechanism analysis of human disturbance and soil chemical element aggregation is feasible, based on the landscape geochemical theories and methods. The spatial information techniques, such as remote sensing and geographic information systems, are effective for research on soil element migration.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41101174), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2013M540700), Special Grants for Postdoctoral Research Projects in Sichuan Province (Grant No. SZD013), China Geological Survey Projects (Grant No. 12120113002301), Young and Middle-aged Excellent Teacher Training Program, Research Foundation of Chengdu University of Technology, and Projects of Landslide Hazard Information Extraction based on Multi-sources Data (Grant No. SKLGP 2011Z005). We also thank the Southeast Sichuan Geological Team of the Chongqing Bureau of Geology and Minerals Exploration for providing the experimental data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Earth Sciences, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Huan Yu, Zheng-Wei He & Ze-Ming Shi

  2. The State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Zheng-Wei He

  3. Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Bo Kong

  4. The Second Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation Engineering Institute, Chengdu, 610100, China

    Zhong-Yin Weng

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  1. Huan Yu
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Correspondence to Huan Yu.

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Yu, H., He, ZW., Kong, B. et al. The spatial relationship between human activities and C, N, P, S in soil based on landscape geochemical interpretation. Environ Geochem Health 38, 381–398 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-015-9725-9

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