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The soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) of topsoil could be greatly affected by the conversion of grassland to cropland (CGC) due to vegetation harvesting and soil erosion. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of these changes in the subsoil and distinguished its main controls at the regional scale. This paper investigated the total changes in the SOC stock (SOCS) and TN stock (TNS) of soils from 0 to 30 cm and 0–100 cm in depth over the past three decades in the Songnen Plain, China, a typical Mollisol region. The CGC resulted in a moderate loss of topsoil C and N but an increase in subsoil C and N, and the soil mapping results showed that approximately 7.47 × 1011 kg C and 1.51 × 1011 kg N were accumulated during the past three decades. Prediction uncertainty was assessed by 100 model runs with random jackknife partitions, and high uncertainty was found in the areas with rapidly changing SOCS and TNS levels. Our findings indicated that subsoil should be considered in the estimation of the SOCS and TNS at the regional scale. The SOCS and TNS of the CGC areas were anticipated to increase after long-term cultivation. In view of ongoing cropland expansion, up-to-date land use and soil type data are vital for selecting monitoring sites and understanding long-term soil evolution at the regional scale.

A paddy soil chronosequence consisting of four profiles derived from Quaternary red clay (QRC) in Southern China with cultivation history from 0 to 300 years was studied to understand the underlying mechanisms and processes controlling the centennial scale Fe evolution during anthropedogenesis. We evaluated the chronosequencial changes in depth distribution of Fe oxides and Fe isotopic compositions. Results showed that paddy soil development on QRC over a centennial time scale caused increasing profile differentiation of Fe oxides and measurable Fe isotope fractionation. Total Fe and oxide bound Fe as well as the maximum Fe illuviation depth decreased as paddy soils age, leading to significant differences in morphological properties between paddy and non-paddy soils with the same parent material. Selective extractions showed that the weakly-bound, oxide-bound and silicate bound Fe corresponded to 4–18%, 49–81%, and 11–40% of the total Fe, respectively, and these proportions varied with both time and depth due to the redox-related Fe transformation and redistribution. δ56Fe values in the studied paddy soil chronosequence ranged from 0.05‰ to 0.26‰ and exhibited a strong negative correlation with the logarithm of total Fe concentrations, suggesting mass-dependent Fe isotope fractionation occurred as a result of the preferential removal of lighter Fe isotopes during Fe leaching loss under the predominant reducing conditions. However, the Fe isotopic ratio of a specific paddy soil horizon was a result of a complex interaction of different processes, which were summarized and interpreted in our proposed conceptual model of Fe evolution in terraced paddy soils. Further investigations of Fe isotope signatures in the soil-plant-water system with a combination of laboratory simulation and prediction of Fe isotope fractionation under different pedogenic processes are needed to evaluate the relative contribution of multiple processes to Fe isotope fractionation during anthropedogenesis of paddy soils.

Loess, as an allochthonous material, plays a significant role in the formation of Pleistocene periglacial slope deposits (PPSD), and thus also for Holocene soil formation, in the central European low mountain range. Although the differing loess proportions in different layers of the PPSD have been well recognized, quantitative distribution and mixing processes of loess in PPSD are still not fully understood. Detailed particle-size distribution was applied for quantifying loess proportions in PPSD in a sandstone area in central Germany. The bimodal pattern of the particle-size distribution curves clearly reflected loess and sandstone-weathering material as two components of the loess-affected layers, which allowed for the quantification of these two components by applying a two-endmembers unmixing model. By inspecting variations of particle-size distribution curves both vertically and spatially, we gained insights into the mixing processes of loess in PPSD and Holocene colluvium. Our results suggest that the loess component in upper layers most likely results from the incorporation of preexisting loess. Holocene colluvium and upper layers were thoroughly homogenized by various earth-surface processes. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal indicated strong human impact during historic times. Close correlation between the overall thickness of loess-containing layers and the depth-weighted loess content pointed to the erosional-depositional history at each site. Our research demonstrates the utility of detailed particle-size data for detecting and interpreting geomorphological processes and landscape evolution. It shows that the spatial distribution patterns of loess are subjected not only to topographic factors controlling primary loess deposition, but also to erosional-depositional histories and anthropogenic impact.

Nitrate contamination of water bodies is a serious concern in regions with intensive agriculture. Previous studies, which only considered surface water and groundwater but not the regolith, do not provide a comprehensive accounting of nitrate sources and their proportional contributions in the Critical Zone, which extends from the top of the vegetation canopy down to the bottom of the fresh groundwater. In this study, dual nitrate isotopes, hydrochemical compositions and a Bayesian isotope mixing model were used to investigate nitrate sources, processes and individual source contributions across surface water, regolith and groundwater at the Red Soil Critical Zone Observatory of China. Denitrification was found to be weak in the Critical Zone. Dilution processes were important in eliminating nitrate from streamflow and groundwater. More than 90% of the nitrate inventory was stored at depths from 1 m to the bedrock surface in the upland regolith. Nitrate with light nitrogen (14N) isotopes was preferentially adsorbed by the variable charge soils with the help of weak electrostatic attraction. The contribution of soil organic N (SON) to the nitrate in the upland catchment streamflow was found to be highest with a mean of 56%, followed by manure and sewage (MS, 26%), NH4+ in chemical fertilizers (CF, 17%). For the paddy subcatchment streamflow, the contribution of SON (68%) was highest, followed by CF (19%) and MS (13%). In contrast, for the groundwater, the contributions of CF and SON were 60% and 36%, respectively. For the regolith, the contributions of CF and SON were 72% and 25%, respectively. Thus the most important sources of nitrate were SON for the streamflow and CF for the groundwater and regolith. These findings show that the different partitioning and isotopic fractionation within the regolith strongly affect the sources of nitrate reaching groundwater, compared to the sources reaching surface water.

Nitrate accumulation at depth in variable charge soils in humid tropics and subtropics affects nitrogen (N) leaching to groundwater. However, the mechanisms on the nitrate accumulation in relation to regolith (soil and saprolite) properties are poorly understood. In this study, four upland regoliths were selected in a typical red soil Critical Zone of humid subtropical China. These regoliths with a thickness of 6–8 m, which developed from Quaternary red clay underlain by sandstone bedrock, were acidic, highly weathered, and clay loam to clay in texture. We analyzed the relationships between nitrate concentrations and the regolith physiochemical properties. The results showed that regolith pH was negatively correlated with nitrate concentrations, whereas crystalline iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) and anion exchange capacity (AEC) were positively correlated with nitrate concentrations at depths below both soil surface and 1 m. Bulk density (BD) was significantly related to nitrate concentrations only at depths below soil surface, while depth, clay, amorphous Fe and Al, total organic carbon (C), and total N were significantly related to nitrate concentrations only at depths below 1 m. There was no significant correlation between nitrate concentrations and sand, silt, silicate bound Fe or Al, C/N, or moisture at depths below both soil surface and 1 m. Based on the random forest analysis, the relative contributions of pH, crystalline Fe, depth, AEC, BD, crystalline Al and amorphous Fe to explaining nitrate concentration variations were 28.3%, 9.5%, 4.3%, 3.4%, 2.9%, 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively. The concentration of crystalline Fe was ten times that of crystalline Al, which would account for its larger contribution to the nitrate variations. Nitrate accumulation at depth was most likely controlled both by electrostatic adsorption on crystalline Fe and Al oxides and low hydraulic conductivity of the regolith at depth, which appeared to be largely influenced by regolith pH and competitive anions. Our findings shed light on regolith internal property controls on nitrate legacy in the subtropical vadose zone and may help control nitrate contamination of groundwater in intensified agricultural regions.

Over the last three decades, both the crop yields and population in China have steadily increased due to continued agricultural investments. K fertilizer and the return of straw have played vital roles in the yield and quality of crops. However, the effects of long-term fertilization on soil K to a soil depth of 1 m have received little focus, and unbalanced K fertilization frequently occurs because local farmers lack sufficient information about soil K. In this study, the spatial distribution of available potassium (AK) in East China was predicted using kriging with external drift (KED) and random forest (RF) techniques. A comparison of the trends in the 1980s and 2010s showed that the mean AK values in East China generally increased. The mean AK values at soil depths of 0–20 cm, 20–50 cm and 50–100 cm increased by 17%, 12% and 23%, respectively, and the AK stocks increased from 0.14 Pg to 0.17 Pg. However, the spatial patterns of AK at the regional scale suggested that approximately 68.12% of the study area lacked AK. AK deficiency was found in Northeast and South China. The ratios of AK concentrations in the subsoil to those in the topsoil suggested that less K was stored in the subsoil than in the topsoil. Relatively more AK was found in the subsoil (20–50 cm) of paddy fields in the middle of East China than in the other areas. The maps produced in this study could be used to support the decisions of regional agriculture management, and our study demonstrates that effective K fertilizer application in East China should be taken into consideration.

Accurate weathering and soil formation rates in natural environment and their quantitative dependences on environmental factors remain poorly understood, despite their significance in the understanding of biogeochemical cycling and for the development of sustainable land-use strategies. In the present study, rates of weathering and soil formation on granite and their dependences on acid precipitation were studied in a small forested watershed, Fengxingzhuang (FXZ), in subtropical China using geochemical mass balance equations and multiple regression analysis. Atmospheric input from wet and dry deposition, and stream output through runoff were monitored from March, 2007 to February, 2010. The physical and chemical properties of soil and granite rock were also determined. The results show that acid precipitation is very severe in the FXZ forested watershed by bringing in H + both directly from strong acids (741 mol ha − 1 yr − 1 ) and indirectly from nitrogen and sulfur transformations (831 mol ha − 1 yr − 1 ), which serves as an important driving force for weathering and soil formation. The FXZ forested watershed currently remains as a net sink for hydrogen ion, inorganic nitrogen, sulfur, potassium, and aluminum, with a mean of 0.07, 1.60, 1.48, 0.10, and 0.44 g m − 2 yr − 1 , respectively, and a net source for dissolved silicon, sodium, calcium, and magnesium, with a mean of 5.33, 2.95, 1.04, and 0.34 g m − 2 yr − 1 , respectively. Based on geochemical mass balance equations, the weathering rate of granite (R) in the FXZ forested watershed is 1.04 ± 0.65 t ha − 1 yr − 1 , but varying according to the changes in environmental conditions such as rainfall amount, air temperature, and H + input within different seasons. Correspondingly, soil formation rate (S) is 0.95 ± 0.69 t ha − 1 yr − 1 , which equals to 0.066 ± 0.048 mm yr − 1 of soil depth, suggesting a base for establishing the soil loss tolerance value in the granitic region of subtropical China. Acid precipitation significantly promotes weathering and soil formation by the input of rainfall and H + , although air temperature effects occur simultaneously. A proposed model that quantitatively describes weathering and soil formation rates is a combined product of rainfall amount ( x 1 ), H + input ( x 2 ) and air temperature ( x 3 ) resulting from multiple regressions: R = 0.00045 ∗ x 1 + 0.026 ∗ e 0.0022 x 2 + 0.012 ∗ e 0.0459 x 3 ; S = 0.00035 ∗ x 1 + 0.029 ∗ e 0.002 x 2 + 0.016 ∗ e 0.0424 x 3 , which improves the prediction from simple linear regression.

To study the feasibility of using magnetic techniques for monitoring soil pollution in Shanghai, magnetic properties and heavy metals in the topsoils in an urban site (Songnan Town) and a less-urbanized agricultural site (Luojing Town) in Baoshan District, Shanghai, were studied. Compared with the background, magnetic signals of the urban topsoils are extremely enhanced with magnetic susceptibility ( χ lf ) from 127.3–1959 × 10 − 8 m 3 kg − 1 ; while those of the agricultural topsoils are only slightly increased. However, both the urban and agricultural topsoils contain few pedogenic SP grains, as indicated by their low χ fd % ( χ arm /SIRM, χ arm / χ lf and SIRM/ χ lf indicate that the grain size of magnetic minerals in the urban topsoils is significantly coarser than that in the background and the agricultural topsoils. Furthermore, the urban topsoils show low coercivity and magnetic soft behaviors, as indicated by higher SOFT%, lower HARD%, higher IRM 300 mT /SIRM (close to 1) and lower IRM − 200 mT /SIRM (close to − 1). It suggests that the urban topsoils have received some coarse ferrimagnetic particles. Heavy metals are highly enriched in the magnetic fractions of the topsoils. Geochemical properties of the magnetic fraction of the urban topsoils are significantly different from those of the agricultural topsoils, further indicating that the extra magnetic minerals accumulated in the urban topsoils are neither inherited from soil parent materials nor from pedogenic processes, but originate from anthropogenic activities. The significant correlations between heavy metals and χ lf , χ arm , SIRM, SOFT and HIRM of the topsoils in the district indicate that the magnetic techniques can be used for monitoring soil pollution in Shanghai. The soils with χ lf from 39–50 × 10 − 8 m 3 kg − 1 in the district are tentatively defined as “slightly polluted soils”; those with χ lf > 50 × 10 − 8 m 3 kg − 1 are defined as “polluted soils”.

Conventional classification systems based on vegetation and land use are frequently used to characterize or describe urban soils to determine the influence of urbanization on soils. In this study, the sensitivity of different grouping methods in reflecting soil variations along an urban–rural gradient was compared. The objective of this study was to determine the most sensitive grouping system in depicting and explaining variations of soil attributes around an urban area. Grouping methods, including urban–rural division, in situ vegetation type, land use types in different scales and numerical clustering, were compared for both single soil attributes and “soil set” defined by multiple variables. The result shows urbanization has a strong impact on many soil properties, especially that of gravel content, sand content, pH, phosphorus and soil compaction. In terms of the variations of soil attributes, in situ vegetation type is the most sensitive in comparison with local land use types and district-viewed land use types. In other words, soil properties in this study are not sensitive to coarser spatial resolution. Therefore, it's hard to interpret the spatial variation of urban soil by regular methods using natural soil-landscape paradigm. Furthermore, vegetation would best proxy the delineation of single attribute of urban soils. Numerical clusters effectively reflect the land use types and their change during urbanization. All clusters were interpreted as different sets with practical meanings: soil in abandoned greenbelt, soil in ill-managed greenbelt, soil in new vegetable land, extreme urban conditioned soil, soil in well-managed greenbelt, soil in highly mellowed vegetable land, soil in common urban–peri-urban greenbelt and weak-urban-impacted soil. They can be used as bases for soil regionalization in urban and peri-urban environment.

Soils in urban areas are often artificially formed and preserved as cultural layers in which soil materials are mixed with artifacts. The vertical change of soil properties denotes the historical change of human activities, and therefore, urban soil can be considered as a record of history of urban development. We studied a deep profile of urban soil (600 cm) in Nanjing, China, by intensively sampling at every 5 cm. Soil samples were analyzed for lead content. Charcoal from several layers was found and was dated using 14C to recognize archaeological cultural layers that might be formed in different Chinese dynasties. Pb isotope ratios were determined by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) technology. The study found that artificial deposition, i.e., the formation of cultural layer started about 1700 years ago and lasted until recently. All cultural layers above the original loess were heavily contaminated by Pb with total content varying from 100 mg kg− 1 to more than 2000 mg kg− 1. There were several historical periods in which Pb content peaked, indicating significant contamination by human activities, such as ancient ore smelting for various purposes and use of Pb-containing materials for handicraft manufacture. Various Pb isotope ratios of the cultural layers differed substantially from that of the original undisturbed loess in the deepest position. 206Pb/207Pb value decreased gradually from the bottom layer to top layer, although with occasional exceptions, indicating a long-lasting mixing of extraneous sources of Pb during the entire history since ca. 300 A.D. In comparison with the isotope ratios of lead ores of different sources and that of aerosols, it was illustrated that the source of Pb in cultural layers might come from lead ores of southern China in the earlier dynasties, while Pb from north China might have contributed to the Pb source in the more recent years, suggested by the lowering of 206Pb/207Pb ratio in the near-surface cultural layers. However, the impact of petrol burning on cultural layers was basically excluded, considering the relatively short history of petroleum use in this area.