Abstract
Desert steppe soil security issues have been the focus of attention. Therefore, to understand the impact of industrial activities on the soil quality of desert grasslands, this experiment investigated the Gaoshawo Industrial Concentration Zone in Yanchi County. Based on the distance and direction from the industrial park, sample plots were established at intervals of 1–2 km. A total of 82 surface soil samples (0–20 cm) representing different pollution sources were collected. The samples were analysed for pH, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, available phosphorus, available potassium, organic matter, copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn). The desert steppe soil quality was analysed based on the integrated fertility index (IFI) and the Nemerow pollution index (PN), followed by the calculation of the comprehensive soil quality index (SQI), which considers the most suitable soil quality indicators through a geostatistical model. The results showed that the IFI was 0.393, indicating that the soil fertility was relatively poor. Excluding the available potassium, the nugget coefficients of the fertility indicators were less than 25% and showed strong spatial autocorrelation. The average values of Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn were 21.64 ± 3.26, 0.18 ± 0.02, 44.99 ± 21.23, 87.18 ± 25.84, and 86.63 ± 24.98 mg·kg−1, respectively; the nugget coefficients of Cr, Pb and Zn were 30.79–47.35%. Pb was the main element causing heavy metal pollution in the study area. Higher PN values were concentrated north of the highway in the study area, resulting in lower soil quality in the northern region and a trend of decreasing soil quality from south to north. The results of this research showed that the average SQI was 0.351 and the soil quality was extremely low. Thus, industrial activities and transportation activities in the Gaoshawo Industrial Zone significantly impact the desert steppe soil quality index.
Highlights
With the continuous increase in the average global temperature, soil quality has been a focus of research regarding climatic warming
The plant coverage is low, the plant growth is poor, there is a small amount of biomass, and the area has been subjected to human disturbance for a long time, which further caused generally concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and available phosphorus (AP) in the study area
Combined with the spatial distribution map (Fig. 3-PN), these results indicated that the area with a higher pollution index was patchily distributed in the area north of the highway
Summary
With the continuous increase in the average global temperature, soil quality has been a focus of research regarding climatic warming. We use geostatistics and fuzzy mathematics to analyse the physical and chemical properties of soil and the content of heavy metals in soil to further understand the impact of industrial activities on the quality of desert grassland soil. It is assumed that the content of heavy metals in the soil has a negative impact on soil fertility and soil quality To test this hypothesis, the purpose of this study is to (1) determine the soil fertility index (IFI) through principal component analysis, (2) use the Nemerow pollution index to determine the soil pollution index (PN) of the research area, and (3) construct a comprehensive soil fertility index and internal Nemerow pollution index to comprehensively evaluate soil quality, hoping to provide support for the protection and healthy development of desert grasslands in the future
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