On the Loess Plateau of China, a dry soil layer may form due to excess transpiration, leading to degradation of black locust(Robinia pseudoacacia) stands. In order to better manage projects involving black locust, this study was intended to investigate the response of black locust transpiration rate to soil water availability as affected by meteorological factors using two representative soils(loamy clay and sandy loam) on the Loess Plateau. Four soil water contents were maintained for black locust seedlings grown in pots initially outdoors and then in a climate-controlled chamber, by either drying or irrigating the pots. In both environments, daily transpiration rates were related by a power function to air temperature and by a logistic function to reference evapotranspiration(ET0). Transpiration rates were more susceptible to changes in the meteorological conditions in the sandy loam than in the loamy clay soil. The transpiration rate in the well-watered treatment was greater for black locust grown in the sandy loam than in the loamy clay soil. Normalized transpiration rates were unaffected by ET0 until a critical value of soil water content(θc) was attained; the θc value decreased significantly for the loamy clay soil but increased significantly for the sandy loam soil when ET0 increased. These suggested that the effect of the meteorological condition on the transpiration characteristics of black locust was dependent on soil texture.
This contribution analyzes the similarities and differences between the measured activities of 137Cs and excess 210Pb(210Pbex) in the cultivated brown and cinnamon soils of the Yimeng Mountain area, discusses the influence of soil texture on the measurement of 210Pbex, and presents differences between the two types of soils. Fields A and B were selected to represent the fields that contain cultivated brown and cinnamon soils, respectively. From either study field, one site of sectioned core and six bulk cores were collected to measure 137Cs levels, 210Pbex levels, and the particle-size composition of soil samples. Three undisturbed soil samples were collected to measure capillary and aeration porosities. The 137Cs inventories for the two study fields are very similar. The 137Cs is a man-made radionuclide, which means that its measured levels for soils are unaffected by soil texture. In contrast, levels of the naturally occurring 210Pbex of soils from Field A were lower than those of Field B by about 50%. In contrast to aquatic sediments, levels of 210Pbex in terrestrial surface soils are affected by the emanation of 222Rn from the soils. It can be assumed that the coarser the soils, the greater the emanation of 222Rn; in addition, the lower the measured 210Pbex, the greater the underestimate of this value. The cultivated brown soils in Field A are coarser than the cultivated cinnamon soils in Field B. As a result, 222Rn in Field A will diffuse more easily into the atmosphere than that in Field B. As a consequence, the measured 210Pbex in soils from Field A is much lower than the actual value, whereas the value measured for Field B is much closer to the actual value.
