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Soil physicochemical properties in Chushandian reservoir

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Mar 29, 2022 version files 42.92 KB

Abstract

The impoundment of dams can significantly alter shorelines, hydrological regimes, sediment settling, and the soil nutrient cycle. With the completion of the Chushandian Reservoir Dam, land-use types around the reservoir have been profoundly affected by inundation. As yet, the changes due to inundation in soil properties for different land-use types have not been fully explored. We investigated the variation of soil physicochemical properties of different land-use types (abandoned cropland, grassland, and woodland) near the Chushandian Reservoir at several distances after short-term inundation and found that soil pH varied in the range of 5-6.5. The soil texture of abandoned cropland and grassland was dominated by silt particles, but the soil texture of woodland was dominated by sand particles. The ranges of variation in soil TC and TN for different land-use types were 5.26-33.91 and 0.59-2.68 g/kg, respectively. Woodland soil was characterized by low NH4-N and high NO3-N, which may be related to denitrification. In addition, we observed that inundation affected the soil nutrient status of the different land-use types in the riparian zone in the short-term after reservoir impoundment, especially in abandoned cropland and grassland. However, woodland showed better tolerance to inundation. Furthermore, there are two different mechanisms of soil properties in response to inundation at the distance scales for the woodland land-use type. Soil properties are dominated by microbial activity in the far-away region and by chemical properties in the near-water region. By contrast, the soil properties in abandoned cropland and grassland are dominated by physical properties. Finally, we found that microbial biomass may be an essential indicator that can characterize the ability of riparian zone soil to respond to inundation.