RESEARCH PAPER
Quantifying the structural characteristics and hydraulic properties of shallow Entisol in a hilly landscape
1
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, No.1,Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan,
Hubei Province 430070, China
2
School of Geographic Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Mulanlou, 36 Lushan Rd., Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China
Final revision date: 2022-03-31
Acceptance date: 2022-04-04
Publication date: 2022-05-04
Corresponding author
Zhaoxia Li
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, No.1 Shizishan Street，Hongshan District, 430070, Wuhan, China
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, No.1 Shizishan Street，Hongshan District, 430070, Wuhan, China
Int. Agrophys. 2022, 36(2): 105-113
HIGHLIGHTS
- For the studied Entisol, the pore diameter of > 4 mm contributed the largest to the total macroporosity.
- The largest Ksat was observed in the forest land with a larger pore size and better pore connectivity.
- The Ksat was well correlated with the total porosity, degree of anisotropy, and fractal dimension.
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Entisols are widely distributed in the hilly areas of southern China. They are affected by serious soil erosion and extensive agricultural activities, the structural and hydraulic properties of particular Entisols may differ. Characterizing soil structure and hydraulic properties is important with regard to the development of an understanding of the hydrology and ecosystem functions of shallow Entisols. X-ray computed tomography was used to characterize and quantify the soil pore structure under four typical land use types (cropland, grassland, tea orchard and forest land) from a hilly landscape in South China and the hydraulic properties of the soil including its saturated hydraulic conductivity and water retention curve were measured. The results showed that the soils under the grassland retained 14 and 21% more water at saturation than those under the cropland and tea orchard, respectively. The Entisol in the forest land had a significantly larger macroporosity (0.214 mm3 mm–3) compared with that in the cropland (0.117 mm3 mm–3) and tea orchard (0.131 mm3 mm–3). The contribution of pores with a diameter >4 mm as compared to the total computed tomography derived porosity was 62.4% in the forest land, while this size class contributed 69 and 47.3% to the total porosity in the tea orchard and grassland, respectively. The saturated hydraulic conductivity value was well correlated with the degree of anisotropy and the fractal dimension.
FUNDING
This work was funded by: the National Natural Science Foundation of China 42077065 (2021.01-2024.12), 41877071 (2019.01-2022.12), 41877084 (2019.01-2022.12).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
REFERENCES (59)
1.
Abdollahi L., Munkholm L.J., and Garbout A., 2014. Tillage system and cover crop effects on soil quality: II. pore characteristics. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 78, 271-279, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2....
2.
Alaoui A., Lipiec J., and Gerke H.H., 2011. A review of the changes in the soil pore system due to soil deformation: A hydrodynamic perspective. Soil Tillage Res., 115-115, 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
3.
Baranian Kabir E., Bashari H., Bassiri M., and Mosaddeghi M.R., 2020. Effects of land-use/cover change on soil hydraulic properties and pore characteristics in a semi-arid region of central Iran. Soil Tillage Res. 197, 104478, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
4.
Bienes R., Marques M.J., Sastre B., García-Díaz A., and Ruiz-Colmenero M., 2016. Eleven years after shrub revegetation in semiarid eroded soils. Influence in soil properties. Geoderma, 273, 106-114, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
5.
Blake G.R. and Hartge K.H., 1986. Bulk density. In: Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 1. Physical and Mineralogical Methods. Agron. Monogr. 9 (Ed. C.A. Black), ASA, https://doi.org/10.2134/agronm....
6.
Borges J.A.R., Pires L.F., Cássaro F.A.M., Auler A.C., Rosa J.A., Heck R.J., and Roque W.L., 2019. X-ray computed tomography for assessing the effect of tillage systems on topsoil morphological attributes. Soil Tillage Res., 189, 25-35, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
7.
Bruns M.A., 2014. Sustainable soil health. In: Plant Biotechnology (Eds A. Ricroch, S. Chopra, S. Fleischer). Springer, Cham., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-....
8.
Buades A., Coll B., and Morel J.M., 2005. A non-local algorithm for image denoising. In Proceedings – 2005 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, CVPR 2005.
9.
Chandrasekhar P., Kreiselmeier J., Schwen A., Weninger T., Julich S., Feger K.H., and Schwärzel K., 2019. Modeling the evolution of soil structural pore space in agricultural soils following tillage. Geoderma, 353, 401-414, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
10.
Chen X., Zhang Z., Chen X., and Shi P., 2009. The impact of land use and land cover changes on soil moisture and hydraulic conductivity along the karst hillslopes of southwest China. Environ. Earth Sci., 59, 811-820, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665....
11.
Dal Ferro N., Charrier P., and Morari F., 2013. Dual-scale micro-CT assessment of soil structure in a long-term fertilization experiment. Geoderma, 204-205, 84-93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
12.
Diel J., Vogel H.J., and Schlüter S., 2019. Impact of wetting and drying cycles on soil structure dynamics. Geoderma, 345, 63-71, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
13.
Feng Y., Wang J., Bai Z., Reading L., and Jing Z., 2020. Three-dimensional quantification of macropore networks of different compacted soils from opencast coal mine area using X-ray computed tomography. Soil Tillage Res., 198, 104567, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
14.
Galdos M.V., Pires L.F., Cooper H.V., Calonego J.C., Rosolem C.A., and Mooney S.J., 2019. Assessing the long-term effects of zero-tillage on the macroporosity of Brazilian soils using X-ray Computed Tomography. Geoderma, 337, 1126-1135, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
15.
Garbout A., Munkholm L.J., and Hansen S.B., 2013. Temporal dynamics for soil aggregates determined using X-ray CT scanning. Geoderma, 204-205, 15-22, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
16.
Gee G.W. and Or D., 2018. Particle-Size Analysis. In: Methods of Soil Analysis: Part 4 Physical Methods, 5.4. (Eds J.H. Dane, G. Clarke Topp). Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, 255-293, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssabo....
17.
van Genuchten M.T., 1980. Closed-Form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44, 892-898, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1....
18.
Haruna S.I., Anderson S.H., Nkongolo N.V., and Zaibon S., 2018. Soil Hydraulic Properties: Influence of Tillage and Cover Crops. Pedosphere, 28, 430-442, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-....
19.
Hu X., Li Z.C., Li X.Y., and Liu L.Y., 2016. Quantification of soil macropores under alpine vegetation using computed tomography in the Qinghai Lake Watershed, NE Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Geoderma, 264, 244-251, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
20.
Ilek A. and Kucza J., 2014. A laboratory method to determine the hydraulic conductivity of mountain forest soils using undisturbed soil samples. J. Hydrol., 519(B), 1649-1659, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhyd....
21.
Kalhoro S.A., Xu X., Ding K., Chen W., Shar A.G., and Rashid M., 2018. The effects of different land uses on soil hydraulic properties in the Loess Plateau, Northern China. L. Degrad. Dev., 29, 3907-3916, https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.31....
22.
van der Kamp G., Hayashi M., and Gallén D., 2003. Comparing the hydrology of grassed and cultivated catchments in the semi-arid Canadian prairies. Hydrol. Process., 17, 559-575, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11....
23.
Katuwal S., Norgaard T., Moldrup P., Lamandé M., Wildenschild D., and de Jonge L.W., 2015. Linking air and water transport in intact soils to macropore characteristics inferred from X-ray computed tomography. Geoderma, 237-238, 9-20, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
24.
Ketcham R.A., 2005. Three-dimensional grain fabric measurements using high-resolution X-ray computed tomography. J. Struct. Geol., 27(7), 1217-1228, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.....
25.
Kodesova R., Jirku V., Kodes V., Muhlhanselova M., Nikodem A., and Žigová A., 2011. Soil structure and soil hydraulic properties of Haplic Luvisol used as arable land and grassland. Soil Tillage Res., 111, 154-161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
26.
Kravchenko A.N., Wang A.N.W., Smucker A.J.M., and Rivers M.L., 2011. Long-term differences in tillage and land use affect intra-aggregate pore heterogeneity. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 75, 1658-1666, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2....
27.
Lamandé M., Wildenschild D., Berisso F.E., Garbout A., Marsh M., Moldrup P., Keller T., Hansen S.B., De Jonge L.W., and Schjønning P., 2013. X-ray CT and laboratory measurements on glacial till subsoil cores: Assessment of inherent and compaction-affected soil structure characteristics. Soil Sci., 178(7), 359-398, https://doi.org/10.1097/SS.0b0....
28.
Larsbo M., Koestel J., and Jarvis N., 2014. Relations between macropore network characteristics and the degree of preferential solute transport. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5255-5269, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-1....
29.
Lauber C.L., Strickland M.S., Bradford M.A., and Fierer N., 2008. The influence of soil properties on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities across land-use types. Soil Biol. Biochem., 40, 2407-2415, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soil....
30.
Leuther F., Schlüter S., Wallach R., and Vogel H.J., 2019. Structure and hydraulic properties in soils under long-term irrigation with treated wastewater. Geoderma, 333, 90-98, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
31.
Lin H., Brooks E., McDaniel P., and Boll J., 2008. Hydropedology and Surface/Subsurface Runoff Processes. Encycl. Hydrol. Sci., https://doi.org/10.1002/047084....
32.
Liu Z., Ma D., Hu W., and Li X., 2018. Land use dependent variation of soil water infiltration characteristics and their scale-specific controls. Soil Tillage Res., 178, 139-149, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
33.
Luo L., Lin H., and Li S., 2010a. Quantification of 3-D soil macropore networks in different soil types and land uses using computed tomography. J. Hydrol., 393, 53-64, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhyd....
34.
Luo L., Lin H., and Schmidt J., 2010b. Quantitative relationships between soil macropore characteristics and preferential flow and transport. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 74, 1929-1937, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2....
35.
Murty D., Kirschbaum M.U.F., McMurtrie R.E., and McGilvray H., 2002. Does conversion of forest to agricultural land change soil carbon and nitrogen? A review of the literature. Glob. Chang. Biol., 8, 105-123, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1354....
36.
de Oliveira J.A.T., Cássaro F.A.M., and Pires L.F., 2021. Estimating soil porosity and pore size distribution changes due to wetting-drying cycles by morphometric image analysis. Soil Tillage Res., 205, 104814, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
37.
Pagliai M., Vignozzi N., and Pellegrini S., 2004. Soil structure and the effect of management practices. Soil Tillage Res., 79(2), 131-143, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.still....
38.
Price K., Jackson C.R., and Parker A.J., 2010. Variation of surficial soil hydraulic properties across land uses in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA. J. Hydrol., 383, 256-268, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhyd....
39.
Qiao J., Liu X., Zhu Y., Jia X., and Shao M., 2021. Three-dimensional quantification of soil pore structure in wind-deposited loess under different vegetation types using industrial X-ray computed tomography. Catena, 199, 105098, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cate....
40.
Rabot E., Wiesmeier M., Schlüter S., and Vogel H.J., 2018. Soil structure as an indicator of soil functions: A review. Geoderma, 314, 122-137, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
41.
Rezanezhad F., Quinton W.L., Price J.S., Elrick D., Elliot T.R., and Heck R.J., 2009. Examining the effect of pore size distribution and shape on flow through unsaturated peat using computed tomography. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 1993-2002, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-1....
42.
Schlüter S., Eickhorst T., and Mueller C.W., 2019. Correlative Imaging Reveals Holistic View of Soil Microenvironments. Environ. Sci. Technol., 53, 829-837, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.es....
43.
Schlüter S., Großmann C., Diel J., Wu G.M., Tischer S., Deubel A., and Rücknagel J., 2018. Long-term effects of conventional and reduced tillage on soil structure, soil ecological and soil hydraulic properties. Geoderma, 332, 10-19, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
44.
Schlüter S., Sheppard A., Brown K., and Wildenschild D., 2014. Image processing of multiphase images obtained via X-ray microtomography: A review. Water Resour. Res., 50(4), 3615-3639, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR....
45.
Shabtai I.A., Shenker M., Edeto W.L., Warburg A., and Ben-Hur M., 2014. Effects of land use on structure and hydraulic properties of Vertisols containing a sodic horizon in northern Ethiopia. Soil Tillage Res., 136, 19-27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
46.
Tabor Z., 2011. A novel method of estimating structure model index from gray-level images. Med. Eng. Phys., 33, 218-225, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mede....
47.
Udawatta R.P., and Anderson S.H., 2008. CT-measured pore characteristics of surface and subsurface soils influenced by agroforestry and grass buffers. Geoderma, 145, 381-389, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geod....
48.
Udawatta R.P., Anderson S.H., Gantzer C.J., and Garrett H.E., 2008. Influence of prairie restoration on CT-measured soil pore characteristics. J. Environ. Qual., 37, 219-228, https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq200....
49.
Vogel H.J., 2000. A numerical experiment on pore size, pore connectivity, water retention, permeability, and solute transport using network models. Eur. J. Soil Sci., 51, 99-105, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365....
50.
Walkley A. and Black I.A., 1934. An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter, and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci., 37(1), 29-38, https://doi.org/10.1097/000106....
51.
Wang M., Xu S., Kong C., Zhao Y., Shi X., and Guo N., 2019. Assessing the effects of land use change from rice to vegetable on soil structural quality using X-ray CT. Soil Tillage Res., 195, 104343, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stil....
52.
Woolhiser D.A., Fedors R.W., Smith R.E., and Stothoff S.A., 2006. Estimating Infiltration in the Upper Split Wash Watershed, Yucca Mountain, Nevada. J. Hydrol. Eng., 11, 123-133, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)...).
53.
Zeng C., Zhang F., Wang Q., Chen Y., and Joswiak D.R., 2013. Impact of alpine meadow degradation on soil hydraulic properties over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. J. Hydrol., 478, 148-156, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhyd....
54.
Zhang Z., Lin L., Wang Y., and Peng X., 2016. Temporal change in soil macropores measured using tension infiltrometer under different land uses and slope positions in subtropical China. J. Soils Sediments, 16, 854-863, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368....
55.
Zhang Z., Liu K., Zhou H., Lin H., Li D., and Peng X., 2018. Three dimensional characteristics of biopores and non-biopores in the subsoil respond differently to land use and fertilization. Plant Soil, 428, 453-467, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104....
56.
Zhang Z., Liu K., Zhou H., Lin H., Li D., and Peng X., 2019. Linking saturated hydraulic conductivity and air permeability to the characteristics of biopores derived from X-ray computed tomography. J. Hydrol., 571, 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhyd....
57.
Zhao D., Xu M., Liu G., Ma L., Zhang S., Xiao T., and Peng G., 2017. Effect of vegetation type on microstructure of soil aggregates on the Loess Plateau, China. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., 242, 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee....
58.
Zhou X., Lin H.S., and White E.A., 2008. Surface soil hydraulic properties in four soil series under different land uses and their temporal changes. Catena, 73, 180-188, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cate....
59.
Zhu S., Zhen Q., and Zhang X., 2020. Multifractal characteristics of the pore structures of physically amended sandy soil and the relationship between soil properties and multifractal parameters. Arch. Agron. Soil Sci., 66, 1188-1202, https://doi.org/10.1080/036503....
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2300-8725 |
| ISSN: | 0236-8722 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
