Grain size characteristics of surface sediment in the Jilantai Salt Lake Protection System after long‐term wind‐sand activities

Abstract

In order to explore the influence of vegetation on homogeneity of surface particle size distribution (PSD) and heterogeneity of soil structure, observations, theory, and multifractal results were synthesized to highlight the evolution of the soil particle composition in the Jilantai Salt Lake Protection System (Jilantai system) after long‐term wind‐sand activities and its soil structure characteristics. From flowing sand dune to saline‐alkali wasteland areas, the mean grain size and surface particle sorting degree gradually increased and decreased, respectively, whereas the shape of the particle frequency curve gradually changed from extremely positive deviation to negative deviation, and the peak shape of the curve gradually changed from narrow to wide. Furthermore, the inhomogeneity of the soil particle composition gradually decreased, whereas the range of the soil PSD gradually increased, and the soil increasingly became fine‐grained. Therefore, the contents of clay and silt in shelterbelt soil increased by 16% and 18.36%, respectively, over 1986 levels. Additionally, clay and silt play a vital role in determining soil particle parameters such as standard deviation (SD), skewness (SKI), and monofractal (D), while vegetation factors are the main controlling factors of clay and silt. In conclusion, the Jilantai system could increase heterogeneity and homogeneity and decrease the concentration of soil PSD by changing the sedimentary environment, while this affect depends largely on the fractional vegetation cover, vegetation height, and light penetrating porosity. Moreover, the multifractal and particle parameters could describe the soil structure characteristics and sedimentary process, respectively, after long‐term wind‐sand activities.

Mechanisms of influence of forest ecosystems on the aggregate composition and water stability of soil aggregates in the semi-arid area of southeast Ukraine

“…Under the conditions of a slope with a southern exposure, the influence of forest vegetation is manifested in an increased clay content and a reduced silt content in luvic chernozem compared to ordinary chernozem. An increase in soil clay content under the influence of forest vegetation was also noted by Guan et al (2023). The influence of the features of the exposure is manifested in the fact that ordinary chernozem on a slope of northern exposure is characterized by an increased content of clay and a reduced content of silt compared to ordinary chernozem on a slope of southern exposure.…”

“…Particle size distribution largely determines most soil properties and regimes (Lou et al, 2022) and is also a good indicator of soil change due to forest vegetation (Guan et al, 2023;Gorban & Huslystyi, 2023). The influence of forest vegetation in conditions of a slope with a northern exposure caused an increased content of sand and silt and a decreased content of clay in luvic chernozem com-pared to ordinary chernozem.…”