The Oasisization Process Promotes the Transformation of Soil Organic Carbon into Soil Inorganic Carbon

Abstract

The dynamic fluctuations in the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, a fundamental part of the terrestrial ecosystem’s carbon stock, are critical to preserving the global carbon balance. Oases in arid areas serve as critical interfaces between oasis ecosystems and deserts, with land use changes within these oases being key factors affecting soil organic carbon turnover. However, the response of the soil SOC-CO2-SIC (soil inorganic carbon) micro-carbon cycle to oasis processes and their underlying mechanisms remains unclear. Five land-use types in the Alar reclamation area—cotton field (CF), orchard (OR), forest land (FL), waste land (WL), and sandy land (SL)—were chosen as this study’s research subjects. Using stable carbon isotope technology, the transformation process of SOC in the varieties of land-use types from 0 to 100 cm was quantitatively analyzed. The results showed the following: (1) The SOC of diverse land-use types decreased with the increase in soil depth. There were also significant differences in SIC-δ13C values among the different land-use types. The PC(%) (0.73 g kg−1) of waste land was greatly higher than that of other land-use types (p < 0.05) (factor analysis of variance). (2) The CO2 fixation in cotton fields, orchards, forest lands, and waste land primarily originates from soil respiration, whereas, in sandy lands, it predominantly derives from atmospheric sources. (3) The redundancy analysis (RDA) results display that the primary influencing factors in the transfer of SOC to SIC are soil water content, pH, and microbial biomass carbon. Our research demonstrates that changes in land use patterns, as influenced by oasis processes, exert a significant impact on the conversion from SOC to SIC. This finding holds substantial significance for ecological land use management practices and carbon sequestration predictions in arid regions, particularly in the context of climate change.