Soil Organic Carbon Density and Land Restoration: Example of Southern Mountain Area of Ningxia Province, Northwest China

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) density was researched in southern NingXia with five different land uses: shrubland, farmland, grazing grassland, orchard, and artificial grassland. The results have shown that (1) content of SOC in soil 0–20 cm deep was greatest for grazing grassland and less for bush forestland, farmland, artificial grassland, and orchard; (2) content of SOC of bush forestland and orchard decreased slowly as depth of profile increased, whereas SOC of farmland, grazing grassland, and artificial grassland decreased fast; (3) SOC density of grazing grassland and farmland was greater than the bush forestland, artificial grassland, and orchard; and (4) the establishment and development of C. korshinski on eroded soil resulted in significant improvement of SOC density.

Keywords:

• China
• C. korshinski plantations
• land use
• Loess Plateau
• soil organic carbon density
• vegetation rehabilitation

Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (40701095), Natural Sciences Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2007D12), and the Innovation Team Plan of Northwest A&F University (01140202). Thanks also go to Dr. Frédéric Darboux and the anonymous reviewers.