Abstract
Many studies reported the influence of wind erosion on soil degradation and the effect of vegetation coverage on preventing wind erosion. However, fewer studies have quantitatively measured the grassland soil particle size fractions and nutrients’ loss caused by wind erosion under different vegetation coverage. Aims: We conducted a field experiments to (1) to explore the effect of vegetation coverage on soil wind erosion; (2) examine quantitatively the effects of wind erosion on soil texture, and determine the most erodible particles fraction of soil; (3) to examine quantitatively the soil carbon, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus loss caused by wind erosion under different vegetation coverage. Methods: Six vegetation coverage treatments (0 %, 15 %, 35 %, 55 %, 75 % and 95 %) were constructed. To be able to monitor wind erosion status under more diverse weather conditions, three consecutive repeat experiments under different weather condition were conducted. Results: The results show that all the residue soil samples after wind erosion became coarser than that of original soil samples. The degree of change for the soil particle size distribution before and after wind erosion gradually increased with the less of vegetation coverage. The critical particle size for distinguishing the original soil sample and the residue soil after wind erosion occurred in the range of 125 μm and 210 μm depending on the vegetation cover. The fractions below or above the critical particle size are either easy to deplete or favoured by wind erosion, respectively. The most reduction occurs between 50 and 90 μm depending on the different weather condition and vegetation coverage. Due to the disproportionately greater amounts of nutrients in the fine soil particles, the preferential depletion of fine particles directly lead to a preferentially significant depletion of organic carbon and nutrients. The organic carbon and nutrient contents in the residue soil after erosion decreased significantly compared to that in the original soil. The soil nutrient loss ratio decrease significantly with the increase of vegetation coverage. Conclusions: Wind erosion is an important factor to affect the evolution of soil texture and soil nutrient. Vegetation coverage has a major impact on both preventing wind erosion and decreasing loss ratio of fine particles and nutrients. If we want to effectively protect the fine particles and nutrients, the vegetation cover should be maintained at least above 35 %.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bagnold RA (1937) The transport of sand by wind. T Geogr J 89:409–438
Bao SD (2000) Soil agrochemical analysis. China Agriculture Press, Beijing
Chen WN, Dong ZB, Li ZS, Yang ZT (1996) Wind tunnel test of the influence of moisture on the erodibility of loessial sandy loam soils by wind. J Arid Environ 34:391–402
Cheng TT, Lu AR, Xu YF (2006) Estimation on dust emission from ground surface in Hunshandake sand land. Plateau Meteorol 25(2):236–241
Chepil WS (1945) Dynamics of wind erosion:II. Initiation of soil movement. Soil Sci 60:397–411
D’Almeida GA (1986) A model for Saharan dust transport. J App Meteorol 25:903–916
Dong ZB, Chen WM, Dong GR, Chen GT, Li ZS, Yang ZT (1996) Influence of vegetation cover on the wind erosion of sandy soil. Acta Scientiae Circumastantiae 16(4):437–443
Dong ZB, Li ZS (1998) Wind erodibility of aeolian sand as influenced by grain-size parameters. J Soil Erosion Soil & Water Conserv 4(4):1–5
Gillette DA, Hanson KJ (1989) Spatial and temporal variability of dust production caused by wind erosion in the United States. J Geophys Res 34:2197–2206
Goudie AS (1983) Dust storms in space and time. Prog Phys Geog 7:502–530
Hoffmann C, Funk R, Li Y (2008) Effect of grazing on wind driven carbon and nitrogen ratios in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Catena 75:182–190
Huang FX, Niu HS, Wang MX, Wang YS, Ding GD (2001) The relationship between vegetation cover and sand transport flux at Mu Us sandland. Acta Geographica Sinica 56(6):700–710
Iversen JD, Pollack JB, Greeley R, White BR (1976) Saltation threshold on Mars—effect of interparticle force, surface-roughness, and low atmospheric density. Icarus 29:381–393
Kalembasa SJ, Jenkinson DS (1973) A comparative study of titrimetric and gravimetric methods for determination of organic carbon in soil. J Sci Food Agric 24:1085–1090
Larney FJ, Bullock MS, Janzen HH, Ellert BH, Olson ES (1998) Wind erosion effects on nutrient redistribution and soil productivity. J Soil Water Conserv 53(2):133–140
Lawrence CR, Neff JC (2009) The contemporary physical and chemical flux of aeolian dust: A synthesis of direct measurements of dust deposition. Chem Geol 267:46–63
Lepers E, Lambin EF, Janetos AC, DeFries R, Achard F, Ramankutty N, Scholes RJ (2005) A synthesis of rapid land-cover change information for the 1981–2000 period. Bioscience 55(2):115–124
Leys JF, McTainsh GH (1994) Soil loss and nutrient decline by wind erosion-cause for concern. Aust J Soil Water Conserv 7(3):30–40
Li JR, Okin GS, Alvarez L, Epstein H (2007) Quantitative effects of vegetation cover on wind erosion and soil nutrient loss in a desert grassland of southern New Mexico, USA. Biogeochemistry 85:317–332
Li JR, Okin GS, Epstein HE (2009) Effects of enhanced wind erosion on surface soil texture and characteristics of windblown sediments. J Geophys Res. doi:10.1029/2008JG000903
Liu GS (1996) Observation and analysis standard methods of Chinese Ecosystem Research Network—Soil physical and chemical analysis and profile description. Standards Press of China, Beijing
Liu TS (1985) Loess and the Environment. China Ocean Press, Beijing
Moore PD, Chapman SB (1986) Methods in plant ecology. Alden Press, Oxford
Mu QS, Chen XH (2007) Relation between threshold wind erosion velocity and vegetation coverage. J Desert Res 27:534–538
Okin GS, Gillette DA, Herrick JE (2006) Multi-scale controls on and consequences of aeolian processes in landscape change in arid and semi-arid environments. J Arid Environ 65:253–275
Okin GS, Mahowald NM, Chadwick OA, Artaxo PE (2004) The impact of desert dust on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems. Global Biogeochem Cycles. doi:10.1029/2003GB002145
Okin GS (2008) A new model of wind erosion in the presence of vegetation. J Geophys Res. doi:10.1029/2007JF000758
Poortinga A, Visser SM, Riksen MJPM, Stroosnijder L (2011) Beneficial effects of wind erosion: Concepts, measurements and modeling. Aeolian Res 3:81–86
Prospero JM, Bullard JE, Richard H (2012) High-latitude dust over the north Atlantic: inputs from Icelandic Proglacial dust storms. Science 335:1078–1082
Quinton JN, Govers G, Oost KV, Bardgett RD (2010) The impact of agricultural soil erosion on biogeochemical cycling. Nat Geosci 3:311–314
Shao Y, Wyrwoll K-H, Chappell A et al (2011) Dust cycle: an emerging core theme in earth system science. Aeolian Res 2:181–204
Shinoda M, Gillies JA, Mikami M, Shao Y (2011) Temperate grasslands as a dust source: Knowledge, uncertainties, and challenges. Aeolian Res. doi:10.1016/j.aeolia.2011.07.001
Su YZ, Zhao HL (2003) Losses of Soil organic carbon and nitrogen and their mechanisms in the desertification process of sandy farmlands in Horqin sandy land. Scientia Agricultura Sinica 36:928–934
Webb NP, Chappell A, Strong C, Marx SK, Mctainsh GH (2012) The significance of carbon-enriched dust for global carbon accounting. Global Change Biol 18:3275–3278
Yan H, Wang SQ, Wang CY, Zhang GP, Patel N (2005) Losses of soil organic carbon under wind erosion in China. Global Change Biol 11:828–840
Yan YC, Tang HP, Zhang XS (2010) Probe on grassland wind erosion based on the analysis of soil particle size. J Desert Res 30:1263–1268
Yan YC, Wang X, Yang GX, Xin XP (2011a) Review on mechanism of fine soil particles increase in enclosed grassland. J Desert Res 31(5):1162–1166
Yan YC, Xu XL, Xin XP, Yang GX, Wang X, Yan RR, Chen BR (2011b) Effect of vegetation coverage on aeolian dust accumulation in a semiarid steppe of Northern China. Catena 87:351–356
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40901053), International S & T Cooperation Project of China (2012DFA31290), the National Public Benefit (Agricultural) Research Foundation of China (201003061) Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) (2010CB833502). We are grateful to Victor Squires for comments on an early version of this manuscript. We thank the Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences for their support in the meteorological data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Jeffrey Walck.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yan, Y., Xin, X., Xu, X. et al. Quantitative effects of wind erosion on the soil texture and soil nutrients under different vegetation coverage in a semiarid steppe of northern China. Plant Soil 369, 585–598 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1606-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1606-3