Multi-Scale Characterization of Spatial Variability of Soil Organic Carbon in a Semiarid Zone in Northern China

Long Li, Yongjie Yue, Fucang Qin, Xiaoyu Dong, Cheng Sun, Yanqi Liu and Peng Zhang
Additional contact information
Long Li: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Yongjie Yue: Forestry College, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Fucang Qin: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Xiaoyu Dong: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Cheng Sun: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Yanqi Liu: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Peng Zhang: College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: The variation of soil organic carbon (SOC) spatial distribution is dependent on the relative contributions of different environmental factors, and the dominant factors change according to study scales. Here, geostatistical and remote sensing techniques were used to gain deep knowledge about SOC spatial distribution patterns and their dominant determinants at different study scales; specifically, the structure of the spatial variability of SOC content at the county, regional, and watershed scales in Aohan, China were analyzed. The results show that altitude and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are the key predictors explaining 49.6% of the SOC variability at the county scale; NDVI and slope are the key predictors explaining 36.2% of the SOC variability at the regional scale; and terrain factors are the most significant factors at the watershed scale. These three scales have a moderate spatial correlation in terms of SOC content. As the study scale widens, the spatial variability attributable to the random factors increases gradually, whereas the variability attributable to the structural factors gradually weakens. Soil type and land use type are the key factors influencing the SOC content at these three scales. At all scales, the SOC contents of the different land use types differ significantly in the order forestland > shrubland > grassland. Conservation of regional soil and water and prevention of soil desertification are effective measures for improving SOC content.

Keywords: multi-scale; soil organic carbon; spatial variability; geostatistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9390/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9390/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9390-:d:877410

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().