Establishment of Soil Series for Xisha Islands
Author:
Affiliation:

Clc Number:

S159

Fund Project:

Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province (No. 2019RC355)

  • Article
  • |
  • Figures
  • |
  • Metrics
  • |
  • Reference
  • |
  • Related
  • |
  • Cited by
  • |
  • Materials
  • |
  • Comments
    Abstract:

    The soil resources in islands of the South China Sea are very scarce and precious. However, limited studies have been conducted on the island soils in this region to establish soil series. Thus, the purpose of this study was to systematically setup soil series for this region. 【Method】A systematic soil survey was conducted in 2020 on13 islands of the Xisha Islands, which has the most abundant soil resources in the South China Sea. Specifically, one typical soil profile was selected from the islands of Yongxing, Zhaoshu, Beidao, Nanshazhou and Jinqing, while two typical soil profiles were selected from Ganquan. Information on soil formation factors, profile morphological characteristics, and soil physicochemical properties was observed or measured. 【Result】The parent materials of the seven soil profiles were dead corals and shells. Of all the soils studied, twopedons only had Mollicepipedon, threepedons had Ochric epipedon, and twopedons had Orchric and Cambic horizons. All the sevenpedons had Udic moisture regime, Hyperthermic temperature regime and Lithological characteristics of coral debris sands while sixpedons had Phosphic property. Thus, (i) the pedon in Jinqing and onepedon in Ganquan islands were classified as soil subgroup Phosphic Carbonati-Udic Cambosols, (ii) the pedons in the islands of Yongxing, Zhaoshu, Nansha and North were classified as subgroup Phosphic Udic-Orthic Primosols, and (iii) the second soil profile in the Ganquan island was classified as subgroup Carbonatic Udic-Orthic Primosols. Finally, four soil families were identified and six soil series were established which included Jinqingdao Series, Ganquandao Series, Yongxingdao Series, Zhaoshudao Series, Nanshazhou Series, and Ganquandaodi Series. In brief, Jinqingdao Series, Ganquandao Series, Yongxingdao Series, Zhaoshudao Series and Nanshazhou Series are distributed in the lacustrine depression in the islands, covered by vegetation and is the habitats of birds, where soil organic carbon and phosphorus contents are high due to the accumulation of plant litters and bird droppings. Similarly, Ganquandi Series is distributed in the bare sea dike around the islands where soil organic carbon and phosphorus contents are very low due to limited vegetation coverage and little bird droppings. 【Conclusion】The seven typical soil profiles belonged to two soil orders, two soil suborders, two soil groups and three soil subgroups, and could be divided into four soil families and six soil series. These results can provide basic information for guiding sustainable utilization of soil resources and eco-environmental protection, and also offer support for effective natural resource governance over Xisha Islands.

    Reference
    Related
    Cited by
Get Citation

YANG Anfu, HU Yulin, LIN Tian, LI Decheng, WANG Dengfeng, ZHANG Mingkui, LU Yin, ZHANG Ganlin. Establishment of Soil Series for Xisha Islands[J]. Acta Pedologica Sinica,2022,59(3):666-677.

Copy
Share
Article Metrics
  • Abstract:
  • PDF:
  • HTML:
  • Cited by:
History
  • Received:March 31,2021
  • Revised:September 06,2021
  • Adopted:December 20,2021
  • Online: January 20,2022
  • Published: