Response of the soil water content of mobile dunes to precipitation patterns in Inner Mongolia, northern China

We analyzed the relationship between soil water content (SWC) dynamics in mobile dunes to a depth of 100 cm and precipitation patterns from June to July 2010 in the Horqin Sand Land. The precipitation was dominated by small events of 0.1-3.0 mm, which accounted for 52% of the total events. Precipitation >20 mm had the highest intensity, accounting for 50% of the total precipitation. SWC differed significantly among the soil layers: mean SWC was greatest from 80 to 100 cm and lowest from 40 to 60 cm. SWC from 0 to 100 cm was significantly affected by relative humidity, water barometric pressure and minimum temperature, and the SWC of 0-40 cm was obviously influenced by precipitation amount and wind velocity. Precipitation <5 mm did not replenish SWC, precipitation between 5 and 20 mm provided some replenishment to SWC from 0 to 40 cm, and precipitation >20 mm increased significantly SWC from 0 to 100 cm. In addition, precipitation intensity significantly affected the infiltration rate, with higher intensity leading to deeper and faster infiltration. At longer intervals between precipitation events, SWC in each soil layer decreased continuously over time; however, SWC from 0 to 80 cm changed little within the first 3 days, and SWC from 0 to 100 cm started to decrease greatly after 5 days.