Response of soil aggregate disintegration to the different content of organic carbon and its fractions during splash erosion

Aggregate disintegration is a critical process in soil splash erosion. However, the effect of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions on soil aggregates disintegration is still not clear. In this study, five soils with similar clay contents and different contents of SOC have been used. The effects of slaking and mechanical striking on splash erosion were distinguished by using deionized water and 95% ethanol as raindrops. The simulated rainfall experiments were carried out in four heights (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 m). The result indicated that the soil aggregate stability increased with the increases of SOC and light fraction organic carbon (LFOC). The relative slaking and the mechanical striking index increased with the decreases of SOC and LFOC. The reduction of macroaggregates in eroded soil gradually decreased with the increase of SOC and LFOC, especially in alcohol test. The amount of macroaggregates (>0.25 mm) in deionized water tests were significantly less than that in alcohol tests under the same rainfall heights. The contribution of slaking to splash erosion increased with the decrease of heavy fractions organic carbon. The contribution of mechanical striking was dominant when the rainfall kinetic energy increased to a range of threshold between 9 J m⁻² mm⁻¹ and 12 m⁻² mm⁻¹. This study could provide the scientific basis for deeply understanding the mechanism of soil aggregates disintegration and splash erosion.     

Water mining from the deep critical zone by apple trees growing on loess

There have been significant recent advances in understanding the ecohydrology of deep soil. However, the links between root development and water usage in the deep critical zone remains poorly understood. To clarify the interaction between water use and root development in deep soil, we investigated soil water and root profiles beyond maximum rooting depth in five apple orchards planted on farmland with stand ages of 8, 11, 15, 18, and 22 years in a subhumid region on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Apple trees rooted progressively deeper for water with increasing stand age and reached 23.2 ± 0.8 m for the 22‐year‐old trees. Soil water deficit in deep soil increased with tree age and was 1,530 ± 43 mm for a stand age of 22 years. Measured root deepening rate was far great than the reported pore water velocity, which demonstrated that trees are mining resident old water. The deficits are not replenished during the life‐span of the orchard, showing a one‐way mining of the critical zone water. The one‐way root water mining may have changed the fine root profile from an exponential pattern in the 8‐year‐old orchard to a relative uniform distribution in older orchards. Our findings enhance our understanding of water‐root interaction in deep soil and reveal the unintended consequences of critical zone dewatering during the lifespan of apple trees.     

New graphical methods for estimating aquifer hydraulic parameters using pumping tests with exponentially decreasing rates

Actual pumping tests may involve continuously decreasing rates over a certain period of time, and the hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (S_s) of the tested confined aquifer cannot be interpreted from the classical constant‐rate test model. In this study, we revisit the aquifer drawdown characteristics of a pumping test with an exponentially decreasing rate using the dimensionless analytical solution for such a variable‐rate model. The drawdown may decrease with time for a short period of time at intermediate pumping times for such pumping tests. A larger ratio of initial to final pumping rate and a smaller radial distance of the observation well will enhance the decreasing feature. A larger decay constant results in an earlier decrease, but it weakens the extent of such a decrease. Based on the proposed dimensionless transformation, we have proposed two graphical methods for estimating K and S_s of the tested aquifer. The first is a new type curve method that does not employ the well function as commonly done in standard type curve analysis. Another is a new analytic method that takes advantage of the decreasing features of aquifer drawdown during the intermediate pumping stage. We have demonstrated the applicability and robustness of the two new graphical methods for aquifer characterization through a synthetic pumping test.     

Late Quaternary climate and environmental change derived from glacial deposits in the Parlung Zangbo Valley,southeastern Tibetan Plateau

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the late Quaternary climate and environmental characteristics of two tributary valleys (Xingmu and Depu Valleys) in the Parlung Zangbo Valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples collected from moraines at the mouth of Xingmu Valley produce a wide age range from 13.9 ka to 76 ka. The ages measured from the lenticular sand are consistent with the relative geomorphic sequence of the landforms. Lenticular sand layers below the moraine were dated to 37.9 ka and 44.7 ka, indicating that fluvial processes were likely dominant in the valley during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. The outer moraine ridges at the valley mouth were formed during 13.9 ka and 26.5 ka, corresponding to MIS2. At Depu Valley, OSL samples from two sets of lateral and terminal moraines close to the modern glacier, provide ages from 1.4 ka to 29.2 ka. The paleosol layer widely developed during 2.6 cal ka BP and 8.7 cal ka BP in the study area, reflecting a relatively warm condition during the mid-Holocene.     

Temporal variation of soil erosion resistance on sloping farmland during the growth stages of maize (Zea mays L.)

Maize growth has great effects on soil properties and thus likely induces the changes in soil erosion resistance on sloping farmland. However, temporal variation of soil erosion resistance during the growth stages of maize is still unclear in the mountainous yellow soil area where maize is the dominant crop. In this study, four maize plots (MP) and four bare land plots (CK) were conducted to investigate soil erosion resistance, and multiple indicators of soil erosion resistance were measured including the total soil anti-scourability (TAS), mean weight diameter (MWD), soil erodibility K factor and soil shear strength (SH). A comprehensive soil erosion resistance index (CSERI) was employed to quantify the temporal variation of soil erosion resistance during the growth stages of maize (seedling stage, SS; jointing stage, JS; tasselling stage, TS; maturing stage, MS). The results showed that TAS, MWD, SH increased significantly with maize growth and SH decreased when at MS. But K factor decreased significantly over time. CSERI increased significantly during the growth stages of maize and the CSERI of JS, TS, MS increased on average by 74.72, 180.68 and 234.57% than that of SS. Compared to CK, CSERI of MP increased by 49.90, 66.82, 55.60 and 38.61% during the growth stages of maize. The temporal variation of soil erosion resistance was closely related to the changes in maize cover, maize roots and soil organic carbon. The findings demonstrated that it is necessary to consider the temporal variation of soil erosion resistance in the mountainous yellow soil area.     

Watershed delineation using hydrographic features and a DEM in plain river network region

Watershed delineation is a required step when conducting any spatially distributed hydrological modelling. Automated approaches are often proposed to delineate a watershed based on a river network extracted from the digital elevation model (DEM) using the deterministic eight‐neighbour (D8) method. However, a realistic river network cannot be derived from conventional DEM processing methods for a large flat area with a complex network of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and polders, referred to as a plain river network region (PRNR). In this study, a new approach, which uses both hydrographic features and DEM, has been developed to address the problems of watershed delineation in PRNR. It extracts the river nodes and determines the flow directions of the river network based on a vector‐based hydrographic feature data model. The river network, lakes, reservoirs, and polders are then used to modify the flow directions of grid cells determined by D8 approach. The watershed is eventually delineated into four types of catchments including lakes, reservoirs, polders, and overland catchments based on the flow direction matrix and the location of river nodes. Multiple flow directions of grid cells are represented using a multi‐direction encoding method, and multiple outflows of catchments are also reflected in the topology of catchments. The proposed approach is applied to the western Taihu watershed in China. Comparisons between the results obtained from the D8 approach, the ‘stream burning’ approach, and those from the proposed approach clearly demonstrate an improvement of the new approach over the conventional approaches. This approach will benefit the development of distributed hydrological models in PRNR for the consideration of different types and multiple inlets and outlets of catchments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carboniferous eclogite and garnet–omphacite granulite from northeastern Hainan Island,South China: Implications for the evolution of the eastern Palaeo‐Tethys

High‐P (HP) eclogite and associated garnet–omphacite granulite have recently been discovered in the Mulantou area, northeastern Hainan Island, South China. These rocks consist mainly of garnet, omphacite, hornblende, quartz and rutile/ilmenite, with or without zoisite and plagioclase. Textural relationships, mineral compositions and thermobarometric calculations demonstrate that the eclogite and garnet–omphacite granulite share the same three‐stage metamorphic evolution, with prograde, peak and retrograde P?T conditions of 620–680°C and 8.7–11.1 kbar, 820–860°C and 17.0–18.2 kbar, and 700–730°C and 7.1–8.5 kbar respectively. Sensitive high‐resolution ion microprobe U–Pb zircon dating, coupled with the identification of mineral inclusions in zircon, reveals the formation of mafic protoliths before 355 Ma, prograde metamorphism at c. 340–330 Ma, peak to retrograde metamorphism at c. 310–300 Ma, and subsequent pegmatite intrusion at 295 Ma. Trace element geochemistry shows that most of the rocks have a MORB affinity, with initial ε_Nd values of +2.4 to +6.7. As with similar transitional eclogite–HP granulite facies rocks in the thickened root in the European Variscan orogen, the occurrence of relatively high P?T metamorphic rocks of oceanic origin in northeastern Hainan Island suggests Carboniferous oceanic subduction leading to collision of the Hainan continental block, or at least part of it, with the South China Block in the eastern Palaeo‐Tethyan tectonic domain.