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Solute transport characteristics of a deep soil profile in the Loess Plateau, China

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Abstract

Understanding solute transport behaviors of deep soil profile in the Loess Plateau is helpful for ecological construction and agricultural production improvement. In this study, solute transport processes of a deep soil profile were measured by a conservative tracer experiment using 25 undisturbed soil cores (20 cm long and 7 cm diameter for each) continuously sampled from the surface downward to the depth of 500 cm in the Loess Plateau of China. The solute transport breakthrough curves (BTCs) were analyzed in terms of the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) and the mobile-immobile model (MIM). Average pore-water velocity and dispersion coefficient (or effective dispersion coefficient) were calculated using the CDE and MIM. Basic soil properties and water infiltration parameters were also determined to explore their influence on the solute transport parameters. Both pore-water velocity and dispersion coefficient (or effective dispersion coefficient) generally decreased with increasing depth, and the dispersivity fluctuated along the soil profile. There was a good linear correlation between log-transformed pore-water velocity and dispersion coefficient, with a slope of about 1.0 and an average dispersivity of 0.25 for the entire soil profile. Generally speaking, the soil was more homogeneous along the soil profile. Our results also show that hydrodynamic dispersion is the dominant mechanism of solute transport of loess soils in the study area.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41571130081, 41530854). We thank the editors and reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecosystems Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jiao Wang & Ming’an Shao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jiao Wang & Ming’an Shao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Ming’an Shao

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  1. Jiao Wang
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  2. Ming’an Shao
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Correspondence to Ming’an Shao.

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Wang, J., Shao, M. Solute transport characteristics of a deep soil profile in the Loess Plateau, China. J. Arid Land 10, 628–637 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-018-0060-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-018-0060-8

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