Distribution characteristics of soil pH, CEC and organic matter in a small watershed of the Loess Plateau
黄土高原小流域土壤pH、阳离子交换量和有机质分布特征

Soil chemical properties play important roles in soil ecological functioning. In this study, 207 surface soil (0-20 cm) samples were collected from different representative landscape units in a gully watershed of the Loess Plateau to examine the distribution characteristics of soil pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and organic matter, and their relations to land use type, landform, and soil type. The soil pH, CEC and organic matter content ranged from 7.7 to 8.6, 11.9 to 28.7 cmol·kg-1, and 3.0 to 27.9 g·kg-1, and followed normal distribution, log-normal distribution, and negative binomial distribution, respectively. These three properties were significantly affected by land use type, landform, and soil type. Soil CEC and organic matter content were higher in forestland, grassland and farmland than in orchard land, and soil pH was lower in forestland than in other three land use types. Soil pH, CEC and organic matter content were higher in plateau land and sloping land than in gully bottom and terrace land. Soil CEC and organic matter content were higher in dark loessial soil and rebified soil, while soil pH was higher in yellow loessial soil. Across all the three land scape factors, soil CEC and organic matter content showed the similar distribution pattern, but an opposite distribution pattern was observed for soil pH.