Alpine soils store large quantities of total organic carbon (TOC). Given their high sensitivity to climate change, they may release large amounts of CO2 in a warming climate scenario. Thus, it is important to know their C stocks in order to estimate its possible release. While C stocks of forest, dwarf shrub and alpine grassland soils are well documented, little is known about soils and C stocks in

Amending soil with pyrogenic-C (biochar) has emerged as a potential best management practice to accumulate organic matter (OM), reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase nutrient retention among degraded, marginally-productive croplands. Nevertheless, the impact of biochar application on intensively cropped prairie eco-regions is not well documented, particularly when co-applied with chemical

Studies on the unique terrestrial ecosystems of Antarctica’s ice-free areas have potential to enhance the understanding of the soil/vegetation interplays and ecological relationships of endangered polar environments. Studies that have emphasized the plants distribution and diversity increase the knowledge on the Antarctic vegetation and controlling factors, enabling better conservation strategies for

The study aimed to estimate the properties of the salt-affected soils (SAS) using hyperspectral remote sensing. The study was carried out on typical SAS from 372 locations covering 17 coastal districts from the west coast region of India. The spectral reflectance of processed soil samples was recorded in the wavelength range of 350–2500 nm. The full dataset (n = 372) was split into two as a calibration

Colluvial deposits are considered as sedimentary archives for the reconstruction of the sedimentation and climate history, past pedogenesis and phases of land use. However, the human contribution to the formation of colluvial deposits is mainly based on assumptions derived from the local chronostratigraphy and archaeology. For this reason, there is often a substantial gap in the identification of specific

Soil erosion, runoff and sediment connectivity are strongly impacted by anthropogenic features in lowland agricultural catchments. Among these landscape features, the role played by tile drainage on water and sediment transfers and hillslope-to-river connectivity in drained catchments remains poorly understood. This study quantified water and sediment transfers in a tile drained catchment of central

The unsaturated zone (UZ) plays an important link between groundwater and the land surface. The surface pollutants would be retained firstly in the UZ when the UZ is thick and the recharge rate is limited before they percolate into groundwater. This study is dedicated to revealing the groundwater nitrate source and transformation by combining evaluations of the thick UZ (40–75 m) with the saturated

The research topic ‘parent material for soil formation’ is at the interface between the disciplines of geology and soil science; interdisciplinary research will be of mutual benefit. In order to foster such research and knowledge transfer, this paper presents the development of a novel geochemical-physical classification system for subsolum geological substrates as a basis for both understanding soil

Soil quality in coastal agroecosystems changes rapidly owing to coastal dynamics and land-use change. The potential of soil morphological properties as soil quality indicators is mostly unexplored. We present a minimum data set (MDS) of soil morphological properties to quantify the coastal soil quality. We compiled a dataset including 18 soil morphological properties from 468 soil profiles, representing

Soil C-acquiring enzymes are good indicators for the biological mechanism of soil nutrients and organic matter cycles. However, they have been used less frequently to assess the ecological stability and soil C cycle in eroding landscapes due to a lack of knowledge of the responses of C-acquiring enzyme activities to soil erosion and deposition. In the present study, a 3-year field simulation experiment

Anaerobically mineralized nitrogen (AN) in bulk soil (ANBS) has been described as a soil health indicator. Considering that large macroaggregates (2000–8000 μm, MA) are more sensitive to management practices than the bulk soil (i.e. whole soil), AN within MA (ANMA) would be a better soil health indicator than ANBS. The aim of this study was to evaluate if ANMA is a better indicator of: i) soil organic

Global warming and drying have caused desiccation of lakes in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide, and the mechanisms underlying sharp decreases in water level of great lakes in arid and semi-arid regions in recent decades require elucidation. Using a combination of multiple statistical and modeling methods, we extracted multi-decadal trends from water level time series (~1960–2017) of the two largest

For eight rivers situated from northern to southern Italy, the evolutionary trajectories since the middle 19th century and the key controlling factors of channel adjustments were reconstructed using a combined diachronous-synchronous approach, integrating data from catchment- to reach-scale. The analysis takes advantage of multi-temporal GIS analysis of maps, aerial photographs, and orthophotos, and

Soil prokaryotes composition and diversity are the key to uncovering the mechanisms that drive variations in soil biogeochemical processes. Soil erosion is a primary factor that affects the spatial distribution of the soil prokaryotic community, but how soil prokaryotes in soil-eroding catena respond to environmental factors related to topography remains largely unclear. In this study, topsoils were

Forest decline is mostly attributed to factors related to climate change and human activities. However, it is not well-known how topographic factors indirectly shape the forest decline. In this study, we analyzed the topographic patterns of growth decline in Pinus densiflora forests in the Mengshan Mountains of eastern China. A forest decline event occurring in 2009–2014 was identified using the Normalized

Black soils (Mollisols) are inherently productive and fertile but are deteriorating due to long-term intensive cultivation. Understanding the changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties in topsoils and deep soils after converting forest to cropland would reveal the mechanism related to the black soil degradation. Herein, we investigated the variations in the soil water-stable aggregates, soil

Dry soil aggregate size distribution (DASD) is an important parameter in evaluating soil management practices or modeling of wind erosion and dust emissions. Several models including Lognormal, Fractal and Weibull distributions have been developed to quantitatively describe the DASD. In this study, a new model combining power-law and exponential distributions was proposed to characterize DASD. The

An attribute study of the runoff changes due to climate change and anthropogenic activities is of great value to determining the best response to runoff changes. This study investigates the evolution of the intra-annual runoff and evaluates the effects of changes in climate and anthropogenic activities on runoff variations in the Lake Issyk-Kul Basin (LIKB). The monotonic trend test and wavelet transform

Frequent tephra deposition and a steady influx of aeolian material of multiple origins, dominate soil formation in Iceland. Little is known about the weathering behaviour, mineral formation and alteration of tephra and Icelandic Andosols after tephra deposition. Two sampling sites in the volcanically active area south of Vatnajökull in South East Iceland were selected according to the presence of two

Chemical weathering is an important process that controls the evolution of the Earth’s surface. By accurately and reliably estimating the intensity of chemical weathering, we can improve our understanding of the processes occurring at the Earth’s surface as well as environmental changes. However, chemical weathering indices, which are influenced by source rocks and grain size, may not always accurately

Flexible water use patterns are of great importance for the survival of vegetation in dryland regions. Our study aimed to investigate the influences of season and slope aspect on the water use patterns of Caragana korshinskii on typical shady and sunny slopes on the Loess Plateau in China. We collected xylem water, soil water from the 0–200 cm soil layers, and precipitation in May, July, September

Rainfall erosivity (R-factor) is a crucial natural factor in assessing soil loss by water erosion. Understanding the spatial–temporal variation of R-factor and its driving forces is essential to reduce soil and water loss as well as formulate a regional ecological restoration plan. In this study, the Huaihe River Basin (HRB), a typical climatic transitional zone of eastern China, was selected as the

The frequency and intensity of drying-rewetting cycles can influence soil CO2 emission from the soil and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in the soil, but little is known about whether such effects can be altered by litter input into the soil, especially for alpine wetland ecosystems. We conducted a 144-day incubation experiment at 15 °C using the soil and litter collected from an alpine wetland on the

Nitrate contamination of water bodies is a serious concern in regions with intensive agriculture. Previous studies, which only considered surface water and groundwater but not the regolith, do not provide a comprehensive accounting of nitrate sources and their proportional contributions in the Critical Zone, which extends from the top of the vegetation canopy down to the bottom of the fresh groundwater

Chestnut plantations are worldwide distributed and they are often subjected to intensive management practices such as the removal of the organic residues from the soil surface. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of such practices on soil properties at different depths and on nutrient contents in chestnut leaves. To reach our goal, 6 pits down to 30 cm soil depth were dug in European

Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition plays a critical role in soil organic matter (SOM) transformation, but the responses of the quantity and quality of SOM to ammonium and nitrate fertilization remain unclear. In this work, a 6-year field experiment amended with ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) and potassium nitrate (KNO3) fertilizers at four rates of 0, 10, 20, and 40 kg N ha−1 yr−1 was conducted in a boreal

Ecological stoichiometry provides important information for understanding biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems. The stoichiometric characteristics of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the leaves, roots and rhizosphere soils of co-existing overstory trees and understory shrubs and herbs within a forest ecosystem, however, remain poorly understood. The C, N and P concentrations and

Natural forests conversion to intensively managed forest plantation is an expanding land-use change that could profoundly impact C and nutrient terrestrial cycles. Here we assessed how different soil types respond to changes in the C, N, and P major biogeochemical pools by comparing paired natural broadleaf deciduous forest and pine plantation across five different soils with contrasting mineralogy

Chinese eolian deposits have been investigated intensively to reconstruct East Asian monsoon changes at tectonic to millennial timescales. However, high-resolution elemental proxies sensitive to rapid monsoon changes remains sparse. Here we present multiple elemental ratios of the Linxia loess sequence generated by scanning and conventional X-ray fluorescence (XRF) approaches to assess East Asian monsoon

Magnetic susceptibility (χ) measurements are widely used to study soil-forming processes. This study was conducted to determine the role of lithology, geomorphology, and soil processes in soil magnetic properties in an arid region of Southern Iran. For this purpose, ten representative pedons (in 3 zones, based on lithology) on different geomorphic positions, were studied. In addition, 82 topsoil samples

Various engineering measures, such as mulching, have been applied on decommissioned skid trails to suppress the adverse effects of overland flow and flood hazards. However, very little research has been done on the effects of such treatments on soil recovery. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of different leaf litter levels on the restoration of soil properties and enzyme activity

Previous studies have suggested that runoff reduces with slope length, and the scaling trend diminishes with the degree of land degradation. This study further hypothesized that runoff is scale-independent and spatially uniform in extremely degraded landscapes. We tested the hypothesis on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Runoff data were collected from a densely rilled and gullied loess headwater with soil

Provenance of surface sediments in the Tarim Basin is important for understanding the aridification of the Asian interior and the interplay between the Westerlies and the Asian monsoon. Although the desert sands in the Taklamakan Desert have been studied intensively, there is no consensus regarding their provenance, namely, the dispute exists between various sand sources in different parts of the desert

The northern Daxing’an Mountains (DM) of China has experienced many serious drought disasters, which caused great losses of agricultural production and people’s lives. However, the temporal and spatial limitations of instrument data have seriously hindered our understanding of drought change and its impact on human culture and natural ecosystems. Here, we analyze the process, patterns and driving mechanism

Topography being a pedogenic factor influences the physico-chemical and biological properties of soil profiles. Besides, the magnetic characteristics of soil profiles may also be varied, as iron minerals in soils are strongly redox sensitive. However, hardly any study has been reported from the topographic implication on the magnetic characteristics of soils to date. Hence, the present study aims to

Best soil management practices can be achieved by evaluating the spatial cross-correlation variability of soil microbiological and physicochemical indicators, in order to comprehend the underlying relations between these mutually dependent properties, being valuable indicators for prospective evaluation of soil resources. The purposes of this study were to measure microbiological and physicochemical

The periodicity and forcing mechanism of the past East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation are the natural background for predicting future precipitation changes, but they are controversial and intensely debated. Here, we present a high-resolution EASM precipitation record reconstructed from the loess redness in North China over the past 720 kyr. The average precipitation for interglacials is

The Odiel and Tinto rivers show singular characteristics due to the significant acid mine drainage (AMD) generated in the first section of their basins and the phosphogypsum (PG) stacks located on their common estuary. AMD leads to low pH and high redox potential, which keep high amounts of toxic elements and radionuclides in dissolution. The objective of this work was to analyse the seasonal evolution

This study proposes an integrated methodology which includes pedological, petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses of transparent heavy-minerals, to reconstruct the weathering patterns and pedogenetic processes in a transport-limited erosion regime. Three representative soil profiles developed on crystalline bedrocks, located in Calabria, southern Italy, were studied in detail including

The stability evaluation of rainfall-induced landslides using a physical determination model supports disaster prevention, but it is mostly applied to the area with few landslides, and there is a lack of quantitative study on rainfall and landslide stability. This paper combined the Scoops3D model with the TRIGRS model (3D) to predict the shallow landslide spatiotemporal distribution and compared the

Cyanobacteria inoculation has recently become an innovative biotechnological tool for restoring degraded arid soils. A major challenge for researchers, however, is the search for suitable species able to cope with water stress under field conditions. The aim of this study was to test the effect of water availability on induced biocrust growth in three different degraded soils from semiarid areas of

Regionalization techniques are an important alternative to overcome the scarcity of streamflow data and to provide adequate estimates for flood management. This work aims to generate a maximum streamflow regional function and evaluate the uncertainties in estimates for a basin in the South of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Six streamflow gauging stations, that presented stationarity and no trends according

The QTP (Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) holds the greatest concentration of high-elevation inland lakes in the world, and most of these lakes are located in the QTP endorheic basin. Accelerated lake expansion in the endorheic basin since 2000 has been confirmed by many studies, but there is disagreement as to which components of the water balance explain most of the lake expansion. In this paper, based on

A recent suggestion of the existence of an enormous ancient waterbody in Central China had been associated with the intensifying water management that led to the rise of early states. However, the evolution of regional alluvial landscapes remains unclear. Through intensive geoarchaeological surveys and careful field examination of typical sedimentary sequences, we reconstructed Late Pleistocene-Holocene

Plants can reduce the effects of wind erosion on erodible surfaces by absorbing momentum near sandy surfaces. We used models having the same cross-sectional shape as three common plants in the arid regions of Mongolia and carried out tests in a wind tunnel equipped with a turbulence generator and a piezoelectric blown-sand meter. We studied the effects of plant shape and coverage on the sand accumulation

Cecil Charter had taught botany and biology in China and Antigua for five years, when in 1931 he was engaged to conduct a soil survey of the sugarcane-growing areas of Antigua. This was followed by similar surveys elsewhere in the Caribbean. In 1944, he joined the West African Cacao Research Institute in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to carry out soil investigations in the forest zones of West Africa

Banana (Musa nana Lour.) plants have a distinctive canopy pattern with their extremely long and wide leaves. However, the effects of such distinct leaf shapes on rainfall redistribution and splash erosion are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the basic characteristics of throughfall (TF) distribution and throughfall kinetic energy (TKE) and clarified the effect of specific leaf shapes

Available information on interaction mechanisms between soil nutrient stoichiometry and microbial communities associated with soil aggregate structure in restored wetlands remains limited. As such, this study investigated water-stable aggregate structure using wet-sieving method and scanning electron microscope (SEM) in restored wetlands with a restoration duration of 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 13 or 19 years

Tropical mangrove environments have high carbon sequestration potential and this ecosystem service is currently used in mitigating climate change. However, these environments are declining rapidly in developing countries, diminishing their carbon sequestration potential and may ultimately transforming them as carbon dioxide sources. This study investigated the carbon sequestration potential through

Carbonate rhizoliths and related features are environmental and ecological indicators of not only palaeosols, but also modern soils. They designate subaerial vadose and pedogenic diagenesis environments. Rhizoliths are commonly used as a tool for paleoenvironmental reconstructions, but uncertainty remains regarding their formation mechanisms. Field characteristics of the dune rhizoliths in the Badain