2008 Joint Annual Meeting (5-9 Oct. 2008): Vertical Spatial Variability in Soil Texture on Soil Water Storage

Soil water storage is important for ecosystem productivity in semiarid zone. To retain enough water is critical for the success of land reclamation and soil cover reconstruction, especially in coarse-grained materials. The objective of this presentation is to examine if textural variation could improve soil water storage. Field sites with different ecosystem productivity in a coarse-grained soil area were selected and soil texture was determined using a laser scattering method. The results showed that the ecosystem productivity was correlated to the textural variation in soil profile. Simulation indicated soil water storage as a function of time during drainage was higher in soils with textural variation. This study has important implication in land reclamation and soil cover reconstruction.