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Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2018, Vol. 10 Issue (4): 628-637    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-018-0060-8
Orginal Article     
Solute transport characteristics of a deep soil profile in the Loess Plateau, China
Jiao WANG1,2, Ming'an SHAO1,2,3,*()
1 Key Laboratory of Ecosystems Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, 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.

Key words： solute transport      loess soil      pore-water velocity      dispersion coefficient      hydraulic conductivity      Loess Plateau     
Received: 29 November 2017      Published: 10 August 2018
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Jiao WANG, Ming'an SHAO. Solute transport characteristics of a deep soil profile in the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2018, 10(4): 628-637.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-018-0060-8     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2018/V10/I4/628

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