Effects of land uses on soil physic-chemical properties and erodibility in collapsing-gully alluvial fan of Anxi County, China

As a special kind of soil erosion that severely deteriorates the qualities of soil in granite regions, collapsing gully is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical areas of South China. In particular, collapsing-gully erosion produces a large amount of sediment deposited on the plough layer of alluvial fan farmland and causes increase of desertification, great reduction of nutrients and rapid enhancement of erodibility in the soil. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of different land uses on the soil physic-chemical properties and erodibility of collapsing-gully alluvial fan. Our results show that the physical properties of soil in alluvial fan were greatly improved with smaller bulk density, increased soil porosity, strengthened water holding capacity and a higher particulate matter content. The chemical properties of soil were also significantly improved, including pH, cation exchange capacity, and the contents of organic matter, total and available nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. All the land uses were proved to improve the soil properties, especially in the tea garden, vegetable land and paddy field. The results of correlation analyses among the properties demonstrate that the physical and chemical properties were significantly correlated, indicating that improving the soil physical properties is an effective method to increase the soil nutrient in the farmland of collapsing-gully alluvial fan. In addition, the application of land uses included grass land, eucalyptus forest land, vegetable land, tea garden, sweet potato land, and paddy field reduced the erodibility of the soil compare to bare land. The erodibility K values of soils in grass land, eucalyptus forest land, vegetable land, tea garden, sweet potato land, and paddy field were 14.43, 16.97, 45.45, 33.12, 18.94, and 34.01% lower than those of bare land, respectively. The results of multiple linear regression analysis show that the soil erodibility had a significant correlation with the physic-chemical properties, especially the soil texture and the content of organic matter. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that different land use patterns are effective to improve the quality of the soil in collapsing-gully alluvial fan, including the improvements of the soil structure, nutrients and anti-erosion ability. Our findings provide important implications for the soil improvement in the farmland of collapsing-gully alluvial fan.