Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Response of the soil water content of mobile dunes to precipitation

patterns in Inner Mongolia, northern China
S.X. Yao a, b, C.C. Zhao b, *, T.H. Zhang b, X.P. Liu b
a
Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou 730070, China
b
Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou 730000, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We analyzed the relationship between soil water content (SWC) dynamics in mobile dunes to a depth of
Received 20 August 2012 100 cm and precipitation patterns from June to July 2010 in the Horqin Sand Land. The precipitation was
Received in revised form dominated by small events of 0.1e3.0 mm, which accounted for 52% of the total events. Precipitation
5 March 2013
>20 mm had the highest intensity, accounting for 50% of the total precipitation. SWC differed signifi-
Accepted 3 June 2013
Available online 22 June 2013
cantly 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 0e40 cm was obviously influenced by precipitation amount and
Keywords:
Horqin Sand Land
wind velocity. Precipitation <5 mm did not replenish SWC, precipitation between 5 and 20 mm provided
Rainfall characteristics some replenishment to SWC from 0 to 40 cm, and precipitation >20 mm increased significantly SWC
Soil moisture 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.
Crown Copyright Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY license.

1. Introduction
Soil moisture is an important parameter of the hydrological
cycle of terrestrial ecosystems (Bindlish et al., 2003; Schneider
et al., 2008; Song et al., 2007), and plays a critical role in predict-
ing and understanding various hydrologic processes, including
weather changes, precipitation pattern, runoff generation, and
irrigation scheduling (Puri et al., 2011). Soil moisture also is one of
the most important ecological factors in sandy ecosystems, where
its shows significant variation (Chen et al., 2011; Das et al., 2008;
Entin et al., 2000; Mahmood et al., 2004; Wagner et al., 2003).
Thus, decreasing soil water content (SWC) is a main driving force in
the development of desertification (Berndtsson and Chen, 1994;
Chen et al., 1996; Nash et al., 1991). Many researchers have
described the responses of SWC to land use (Fu et al., 2000; Huang
et al., 2009; Yao et al., 2012), terrain (Bergkamp, 1998; Berndtsson
and Nodomi, 1996; Svetlitchnyi et al., 2003; Tomer and Anderson,
1995), and vegetation types (He and Zhao, 2002; van Rheenen
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 93 1496 7160.
E-mail addresses: zhao_chch1978@163.com, zhao_cc@yahoo.cn (C.C. Zhao).
et al., 1995; Wilson and Kleb, 1996). Researchers have also found
that rainfall characteristics such as amount, frequency, and in-
tensity affect the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of SWC
(Reynolds et al., 2004; Sala et al., 1992; Wilson et al., 2004).
The Horqin Sand Land lies in a semi-arid area of eastern Inner
Mongolia, in northern China. Due to the long-term influence of
heavy grazing, land reclamation for agriculture, and extensive
harvesting of fuelwood, this region has become one of the most
severely desertified areas in China (Zuo et al., 2008). In recent years,
desertification has produced distinctive mobile dune landscapes in
this region. The soil water conditions and their relationship with
precipitation dynamics in such dune areas have become one of the
most important areas of research on land-surface processes in arid
China (Wang and Takahashi, 1999). However, despite the obvious
importance of these processes in determining the effectiveness of
efforts to slow or reverse desertification, no studies have described
the dynamics of SWC and their relationship with the precipitation
patterns in dune areas. In addition, SWC data obtained during most
previous research was obtained at a daily scale or longer, so little
SWC data is available at an hourly scale (Miller et al., 2007).
In the present study, we used hourly SWC data to describe the
temporal dynamics of SWC in five soil layers in an area of mobile
dunes in the Horqin Sand Land. Using this data, we firstly examined
the relationships between SWC and the precipitation patterns,

0140-1963 Crown Copyright Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY license.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2013.06.003
 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98
including precipitation amount, intensity and duration. And then
we assessed the changes in SWC over time in response to rainfall
events with its pattern characteristics.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study site description
The study site is located in the southern part of the Horqin Sand
Land in eastern Inner Mongolia, China (42 550 N, 120 420 E,
345 m a.s.l.). The landscape in this area is characterized by sand
dunes alternating with gently undulating lowland areas. The soils
are sandy, light yellow and loose in structure. The main soil type is
classified as an Arenosol in WRB (ISSS, ISRIC and FAO) (Deckers et al.,
1998). The climate is temperate, semi-arid and continental, receiving
360 mm annual mean precipitation, with 75% of this falling in the
JuneeSeptember period, versus a mean annual potential evapora-
tion of 1935 mm. The mean annual temperature is 5.8e6.4  C, with a
minimum mean monthly temperature of 12.6 to 16.8  C in
January and a maximum mean monthly temperature of 20.3e
23.5  C in July. There was little rain or snow during the late autumne
early spring period at which was coupled generally with frequent
strong winds. The period from November to May was therefore
considered as the major wind-erosion season (Li et al., 2005). Based
on wind data (1997e2002) from the weather station of the Naiman
Desertification Research Station, the annual mean wind speed
ranges between 3.4 and 4.1 m s1 at 2 m height, and the prevailing
wind directions over the erosive season are S, SSW, SW, NNW, WNW,
NW, N and NNE. The winds occur with high speeds in excess of
4 m s1 at 2 m height (a threshold wind speed to initiate sand
movement; Zhang et al., 2004) in most days of the erosive season. As
severely wind-erosion, soil particles of mobile dunes are mainly
concentrated in 2e0.1 mm and 0.1e0.05 mm (Su and Zhao, 2003).
2.2. Meteorological data
All meteorological data during the study period, including
hourly precipitation data, daily maximum temperature, minimum
temperature, relative humidity, net radiation, water barometric
pressure and wind velocity were obtained from an automatic
meteorological station less than 60 m from the study site.
2.3. SWC and precipitation data
All the SWC data were collected from the water cycle research
field at the Naiman Desertification Research Station. This site con-
sisted of 23 concrete basins, each 2  2  2 m3, that were con-
structed in the summer of 2009. Three of the basins were filled with
sandy soil from mobile dunes near to the station. In each basin, we
installed five soil moisture Minitrase (6050X3K1, ICT, USA) to
automatically measure the volumetric soil water content (SWC, %)
in five soil layers to a depth of 100 cm, at 20-cm intervals. The SWC
data was recorded hourly starting in the spring of 2010. The dataset
Table 1
Soil physical and chemical properties at the five soil depths in mobile dune.
Soil depth (cm) Bulk density (g cm3) Total porosity (%) Organic matter
content (%)
0e20 1.51 43.16 0.47
20e40 1.50 43.22 0.40
40e60 1.51 43.01 0.47
60e80 1.51 43.02 0.36
80e100 1.53 42.37 0.42
Mean 1.51 42.96 0.42
93
used in this paper extended from 24:00 on 4 June 2010 to 07:00 on
24 July 2010. No data was recorded during the maintenance period
for the instruments (from 08:00 to 18:00 on 17 July). Because of
instrument malfunctions, there was also no data for the soil layer
from 40 to 60 cm from 01:00 on 13 July to 18:00 on 17 July. The
sample size was 1070 records for the layer from 40 to 60 cm and
1173 for the other soil layers. The SWC data of each soil layer was
the average of three basins.
2.4. Soil properties
For each basin, three undisturbed soil samples from 20, 40, 60,
80 and 100 cm were taken using a cylindrical metal core with a
volume of 100 cm3. Soil bulk density was firstly measured using the
volumeemass relationship, and a same soil sample nearby was
then to determine other basic soil properties. Soil organic matter
content was determined using the K2Cr2O7eH2SO4 wet oxidation
method. Soil particle size distribution was determined by the dry
sieving method. As the Horqin Sand Land is a severely wind-eroded
region, Soil particles are mainly concentrated in 0.25e0.1 and 0.1e
0.05 mm (Su and Zhao, 2003). So, soil particle size fraction in this
study was divided into three groups: coarse sand (2e0.1 mm), fine-
sand (0.1e0.05 mm) and clay and silt (<0.05 mm). Soil saturated
hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) of each soil layer was determined in
situ using a Guelph Prememeater (2008KI, Santa Barbara, CA93105,
USA). The data for bulk density, organic matter content, soil satu-
rated hydraulic conductivity and distribution of particle size frac-
tions were averages of the three replicates for each basin (Table 1).
2.5. Data analysis
The primary statistical analysis was performed using version
11.5 of the SPSS software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and differ-
ences in SWC between the five soil layers was tested for signifi-
cance using one-way ANOVA. When the ANOVA results revealed
significant differences, we used the Post Hoc Tests to identify sig-
nificant differences between pairs of values, P-values of 0.05 were
considered as a significant.
3. Results
3.1. Precipitation patterns
From 24:00 on 4 June 2010 to 07:00 on 24 July 2010, 23 pre-
cipitation events were recorded, and amounted to 109.4 mm in
total. Among the 23 events, the minimum precipitation was 0.2 mm
and the maximum was 34.4 mm. Most of the precipitation
comprised small precipitation event, with <3.0 mm of precipitation
(Fig. 1), and the events with >6.0 mm were a few. We classified the
amount of precipitation into five levels: 0.1 to 3.0, 3.1 to 6.0, 6.1 to
10.0, and 10.1 to 20.0 and >20.0 mm. The number of precipitation
events was 12 for event with 0.1e3.0 mm, accounting for 52% of all
precipitation events; in addition, there were 7 events with 3.1e
Soil saturated hydraulic Soil particle size distribution (%)
conductivity (mm/min)
2e0.1 mm 0.1e0.05 mm <0.05 mm
5.32 97.41 2.20 0.06
6.53 97.45 2.14 0.07
5.19 97.28 2.24 0.07
7.52 97.12 2.43 0.08
4.90 96.91 2.43 0.08
5.89 97.23 2.29 0.07
94 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98

60 30 40 to 60 cm. The 95% confidence interval for SWC indicated that

No. of precipitation events
when SWC was at a low level, the range of its values became nar-
No. of precipitation events and

Precipitation intensity (mm hr )

Total precipitation

-1
50 25 rower and stabilized. The maximum skewness and kurtosis of SWC
total precipitation (mm)

Precipitation intensity all occurred in the 40e60 cm layer, whereas the minimum skew-
40 20 ness and kurtosis occurred in the 60e80 cm layer. These results
indicate that the SWC distribution had a sharper peak in the 40e
30 15 60 cm layer than that in a normal distribution, whereas the shape of
the peak for the 60e80 cm layer was similar to that in a normal
20 10 distribution. The maximum standard deviation and CV for SWC
appeared in the 80e100 cm layer, followed by the 0e20 cm layer,
with the minimum values of both parameters in the 60e80 cm
10 5
layer.
0 0
3.2.2. Temporal dynamics of SWC
0.1~3.0 3.1~6.0 6.1~10.0 10.1~20.0 >20.0 As precipitation increased, SWC also increased, particularly after
Category of precipitation (mm) heavy precipitation, and especially in the top soil layers (0e20 cm)
Fig. 1. Precipitation characteristics during study period. (Fig. 2). The first two bigger precipitation amounts were 34.4 mm
and 20.8 mm, recorded from 13:00 to 19:00 on 12 July and from
16:00 to 17:00 on 27 June respectively. And the SWC increased by
6.0 mm, 2 events with >20.0 mm, and 1 event each with 6.1e 39.7% and 30.8%, respectively, after these precipitation events
10.0 mm and 10.1e20.0 mm. The precipitation amounts in each (Fig. 2). This indicated that the SWC of the study site’s sandy soil
category (from smallest to largest) were 7.6, 29.0, 6.4, 11.2, and depended strongly on the precipitation magnitude. The rate of
55.2 mm, accounting for 7%, 27%, 6%, 10% and 50% of the total change of SWC was consistent with the magnitude of the precipi-
precipitation, respectively. Among these precipitation events, the tation event, with a dramatic increase in SWC after heavy precipi-
intensity was highest for precipitation >20.0 mm (27.6 mm h1), tation, but SWC gradually decreased thereafter due to evaporation
and the intensity was lowest (0.6 mm h1) for the 0.1e3.0 mm until the next precipitation event occurred (Fig. 2).
category.
3.3. Response of SWC to the precipitation patterns
3.2. Dynamics of SWC
3.3.1. Correlation between SWC and meteorological data
3.2.1. Distribution of SWC in the soil profile We calculated Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between the
ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) in SWC in the each soil layer with some meteorological factors
SWC among the soil layers (Table 2). In addition, SWC varied greatly (Table 3), including precipitation amount (P), maximum tempera-
in the mobile dunes, with a coefficient of variation (CV) ranging ture (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), relative humidity (RH),
from 9 to 15%. SWC was highest from 80 to 100 cm and lowest from net radiation (E*), water barometric pressure (HB) and averaged

Table 2
The statistical characteristics of the SWC (%) and the data distribution for the five soil layers.

Soil depth (cm) Mean Max. Min. 95%Confidence interval S.D. CV (%) Skewness Kurtosis

Lower Upper

0e20 7.38b 14.90 6.20 7.32 7.45 1.05 14 1.86 8.13

20e40 7.28c 13.30 6.50 7.23 7.33 0.79 11 2.35 11.02
40e60 5.24e 8.90 4.60 5.20 5.27 0.59 11 2.84 11.04
60e80 5.95d 7.80 5.30 5.92 5.99 0.55 9 0.87 1.03
80e100 8.49a 13.00 4.80 8.42 8.56 1.24 15 0.88 1.79
Mean 6.87 11.60 5.48 6.82 6.92 0.84 12 1.76 6.40

Note: Means labeled with different letters differ significantly (the difference followed by the Post Hoc Tests, P < 0.05).

20 Precipitation 0-20cm 25
Precipitation (mm)

40-60cm 80-100cm
20
15
SWC (%)

15
10
10
5
5

0 0
03:00 11 July
06:00 13 July
09:00 15 July
23:00 17 July
02:00 20 July
05:00 22 July
09:00 11 June
12:00 12 June
15:00 15 June
18:00 17 June
21:00 19 June
24:00 21 June
03:00 24 June
06:00 26 June
09:00 28 June
12:00 30 June

18:00 4 July
15:00 2 July

21:00 6 July
24:00 8 July
24:00 4 June
03:00 7 June
06:00 9 June

Time (Hour Day Month)

Fig. 2. Hourly dynamics of SWC (%) at mobile dune as a response to precipitation in three soil layers.
 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98 95

Table 3
Correlation coefficient between SWC in each soil layer and meteorological factors.

Soil depth (cm) Precipitation Maximum Minimum Relative Net radiation (MJ/m2) Water barometric Averaged wind
amount (mm) temperature ( C) temperature ( C) humidity (%) pressure (kPa) velocity (m/s)

0e20 0.29** 0.19 0.37** 0.73** 0.09 0.70** 0.53**

20e40 0.16** 0.15 0.39** 0.66** 0.06 0.66** 0.50**
40e60 0.03 0.03 0.53** 0.52** 0.18 0.58** 0.15
60e80 0.01 0.17 0.49** 0.59** 0.13 0.61** 0.27
80e100 0.01 0.23 0.21 0.44** 0.05 0.38** 0.23

Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

Table 4
Pattern characteristics of four precipitation events in precipitation duration, amount, and intensity.

Precipitation patterns Rain time

01:00 to 03:00 16:00 To 17:00 13:00 to 19:00 04:00 to 07:00

17 June (event 1) 27 June (event 2) 12 July (event 3) 20 July (event 4)

Duration of precipitation (hr) 3.0 2.0 8.0 4.0

Precipitation amount (mm) 3.4 20.8 34.4 11.2
Precipitation intensity (mm h1) 1.1 10.4 4.3 2.8

wind velocity (V). We found that there was a significant positive a depth of 100 cm are noticeable for the highest precipitation
correlation between SWC and RH, HB (P < 0.01), and between Tmin amount and intensity (i.e. 34.4 mm h1 in Fig. 3a). This suggested
and SWC except 80e100 cm. In addition, the SWC for layers from that at least 20 mm of precipitation would be required for rainwater
0 to 20 and 20e40 cm each has a significant positive correlation to reach a depth of 100 cm at dunes and replenish the soil water
with precipitation amount, and a significant negative correlation (i.e., 20.8 mm h1 in Fig. 3b). However, when the precipitation was
with wind velocity. These results showed that relative humidity, 5e20 mm, its maximum infiltration depth was 40 cm only
water barometric pressure and minimum temperature were the (11.2 mm in Fig. 3c), and precipitation of <5 mm exerted hardly to
main factors to affect SWC, and precipitation amount and wind an influence on SWC at any depth (3.4 mm in Fig. 3d). This sug-
velocity also took some influence to SWC. gested that precipitation <5 mm may play a little role for replen-
ishing soil moisture in the Horqin Sand Land. The precipitation
3.3.2. Variation of SWC during a rainfall event events between 5 and 20 mm provided some recharge to a depth of
We selected four precipitation events with different duration, up to 40 cm, but only the precipitation with >20 mm increased the
amount, and intensity to analyze the details of the SWC changes SWC in deeper soil layers (>40 cm). This result was consistent with
after a rain. Table 4 summarizes the rainfall characteristics of these previous results in the Kubuqi desert (Wei et al., 2008).
events. In order to analyze the variation of SWC during precipita- Precipitation intensity controlled the infiltration rate more
tion, we calculated the incremental of SWC at five soil layers in the strongly than precipitation amount did do (Fig. 3a and b). When the
four precipitation events. Let a0 be SWC at 1 h before precipitation, precipitation intensity was 4.3 mm h1, it took at least 5 h for the
and a1 denoted the SWC at first hour after precipitation, a2 denoted wetting front to reach the layer 20e40 cm (Fig. 3a). In contrasting,
the SWC at second hours after precipitation, and so on. And let n when the precipitation intensity was 10.4 mm h1, it took only 1 h
denote the hours of precipitation sustained. Hence, the incremental for the wetting front to reach the same layer (Fig. 3b), even though
Pn
of SWC in a precipitation event was i ¼ 1 ðai  ai1 Þ. The result the former’s amount was higher than that in the latter (34.4 mm vs.
indicated that SWC increased a few when the precipitation was 20.8 mm). This indicated that stronger precipitation intensity
3.4 mm, and the precipitation with 11.2 mm provided some leading to a shorter infiltration time. We also noted that SWC in the
replenishment to the SWC only at 0e20 cm, but the SWC at 0e top layer (i.e. 0e20 cm) increased rapidly with an increasing pre-
60 cm has noticeable increasing when a precipitation was more cipitation amount, which showed a similar trend for precipitation
than 20.0 mm (Table 5). intensity. The peak value of SWC in deeper layers (i.e. below 40 cm)
always occurred later than the time of peak precipitation. There-
3.3.3. Response of SWC to the precipitation patterns fore, the response of SWC to precipitation may occur later at greater
After analyzed the change of SWC after four precipitation events depths.
mentioned above, we found that the changes in SWC at profile with These results clearly indicate that soil moisture conditions in
sand dunes depended strongly on the precipitation patterns. In
other words, its change was not only just relying on the precipi-
Table 5 tation amount, but also on precipitation intensity and frequency.
Variation of SWC (%) at each hour during precipitation. Positive sign represent an The recharge of precipitation into the various soil layers depended
increase in SWC (%) compared with to the previous hour.
on both the precipitation amount and its intensity. For a given
Soil Precipitation event precipitation duration, a stronger precipitation intensity appears to
depth (cm) a shorter the infiltration time. For a given amount of precipitation, a
Event 1 Event 2 Event 3 Event 4
(P ¼ 3.4 mm) (P ¼ 20.8 mm) (P ¼ 34.4 mm) (P ¼ 11.2 mm) shorter duration results in a higher intensity, and this provides a
0e20 0.0 5.3 4.7 1.7
greater increase in soil moisture (Wei et al., 2008).
20e40 0.1 4.5 4.9 0.0
40e60 0.0 0.9 3.5 0.0 3.3.4. Change of SWC as a function of the precipitation interval
60e80 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 Precipitation interval represents the time between two
80e100 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
consecutive precipitation events. A longer interval usually means a
96 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98

(a) Event 3 SWC (%) (b) Event 2 SWC (%)

0 3 6 9 12 15 Before 0 3 6 9 12 15 Before
precipitatio 0 precipitatio
0
n n
After 1 hr After 1 hr
Depth(cm)
20 20

Depth(cm)
After 5 hr 40 After 5 hr
40

60 After 8 hr 60 After 8 hr

80 80 After 12 hr
After 12 hr

100 100
After 24 hr After 24 hr

(c) Event 4 SWC (%) Before (d) Event 1 SWC (%) Before
0 3 6 9 12 15 precipitatio 0 3 6 9 precipitatio
0 n 0 n
After 1 hr After 1 hr
20 20
Depth(cm)

Depth(cm)
After 5 hr After 5 hr
40 40

60 After 8 hr 60 After 8 hr

80 80
After 12 hr After 12 hr
100 100
After 24 hr After 24 hr

Fig. 3. Changes in soil water content (SWC) as a result of rainwater infiltration into the soil after some precipitation events, such as (a) event 3 (34.4 mm), (b) event 2 (20.8 mm), (c)
event 4 (11.2 mm), and (d) event 1 (3.4 mm). Data are plotted for the depth at the bottom for each layer (e.g., at 20 cm for the 0e20 cm layer).

period of drought. We analyzed the changes in SWC as a function of 4. Discussion and conclusions
precipitation interval to explore the changes in SWC after a pre-
cipitation event. During this study period, there were five intervals The precipitation pattern was dominated by small precipitation
lasting at least 72 h (Table 6). Generally, the mean change rate in events in our study area. Precipitation with 0.1e3.0 mm accounted
SWC was low, for example, its maximum was 0.52% per h with the for 52% of the total numbers of rainfall events, but only accounted
most values less than 0.2% per h. SWC changed little when the for 7% of the total precipitation amounts during this study period.
precipitation interval was during the first 72 h, and its change rate Precipitation events >20 mm were a little, but accounted for 50% of
increased with an increasing duration, and reached a maximum the total precipitation. This confirms previous findings that heavy
value at 120 h and decreased thereafter, probably because soil precipitation events in drylands have a greater impact on total
matric tension held the remaining water more strongly due to SWC precipitation amount (Loik et al., 2004).
was below a threshold level. SWC changed most rapidly in the 0e Previous researchers mostly measured SWC at a longer time-
20 cm and 80e100 cm layers, and decreased least in the 40e60 cm scale (e.g., daily or monthly), whereas the present study provided
layer. much higher resolution (i.e., hourly). The resulting large amount of
data permitted a more reliable and precise assessment of the soil
water changes over time. Though our observation of a period longer
than 1000 h, we found that SWC changes differed greatly among
Table 6 the soil layers, following a complicated pattern.
Mean hourly change in SWC (%) between precipitation events. Negative sign
With increasing depth in the soil profile, SWC firstly tended to
represent a decrease in SWC (%) compared with to the previous hour.
decrease, and then increased again. This contrasts with previous
Time period Duration Soil depth (cm) research results in the study area, in which SWC first increased,
(hours)
0e20 20e40 40e60 60e80 80e100 then decreased, and then finally increased with increasing depth in
5 Junee12 June 192 0.13 0.01 0.03 0.00 0.04 the soil (He and Zhao, 2002; Yao et al., 2012). This difference may be
18 Junee20 June 72 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 caused by the soil characteristics of the mobile dunes in the present
23 Junee26 June 96 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.03 study. These dunes are strongly affected by the strong local winds,
2 Julye6 July 120 0.50 0.18 0.04 0.08 0.20 the bare and loose soil surface, and the low vegetation cover. As a
15 Julye19 July 120 0.14 0.18 0.00 0.18 0.52
Mean 120 0.16 0.08 0.01 0.06 0.16
result of wind erosion that depleted the surface soil in fine particles,
and greatly changed soil physical and chemical properties of the
 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98
mobile dunes of different layers (Table 1). These properties directly
influence soil moisture conditions (Berndtsson and Nodomi, 1996).
In addition, the strong winds in our study area would increase
evaporation from the surface layers, leading to depletion of mois-
ture in these shallow layers compared with deeper layers.
Some researchers have suggested that precipitation interacts
significantly with soil moisture (Salve et al., 2011; Southgate and
Master, 1996; Yang et al., 2008). We found that precipitation had a
great impact on the upper soil layers (0e40 cm), but a less on the
deeper soil layers (below 40 cm). This was consistent with the results
of He and Zhao (2002) and Li et al. (2004). Based on the observed
variation in SWC in mobile dunes after precipitation, He and Zhao
(2002) also reported that soil moisture in sandy land depended
strongly on the temporal and spatial variation of precipitation. The
time required for SWC to respond to precipitation and the infiltration
depth of the precipitation was closely related to the precipitation
patterns. The infiltration depth increased with increasing precipi-
tation amount, but the effect of precipitation intensity was stronger.
It took less time for precipitation to infiltrate to a given depth at
higher precipitation intensity than at lower intensity. The response
time of soil moisture to precipitation increased with increasing
depth in the soil, which was consistent with the results of Yang et al.
(2008). In summary, the impact of precipitation on soil moisture in
the mobile dunes was a complex and dynamic process that was
affected by the precipitation amount, intensity, and duration.
In addition to precipitation, SWC was also greatly influenced by
other meteorological factors, such as relative humidity, water
barometric pressure and minimum temperature (Table 3), and SWC
has a significant positive correlation with these factors. The further
relationship between SWC and these factors should be considered
and studied in the future to obtain more comprehensive cognition
on SWC. Finally, the hydraulic conductivity value has largely
affected the rate of infiltration, and a higher hydraulic conductivity
caused a larger infiltration rate (Yao et al., 2013).
Mobile dunes play an important landscape-level role in the
redistribution of precipitation (Berndtsson and Nodomi, 1996). In
previous research on mobile dunes in the Horqin Sand Land, soil
moisture variation was mainly caused by variations in precipitation
and evapotranspiration, and the study site was mainly covered by an
aeolian sandy soil with a strong infiltration capacity and a low
water-holding capacity (Alamusa et al., 2005). SWC in dunes was
not influenced by groundwater because the water table was deeper
than 6 m at their site. However, due to low vegetation cover and
rapid formation of a dry sand layer at the bare surface after pre-
cipitation, evapotranspiration was less than that in vegetated dunes
(Alamusa et al., 2005). Therefore, a larger proportion of the pre-
cipitation that falls on mobile dunes is transformed into soil mois-
ture through infiltration, and some may even enter the groundwater
through deep percolation despite the losses to evaporation.
Based on this experiment results and previous research, we
should conclude that the presence of mobile dunes exerts an
important role for a replenishment of groundwater through pre-
cipitation infiltration in this region. Even our results suggest that
this replenishment was significant at higher precipitation intensity
or amount only. Furthermore, this preliminary conclusion needs to
be confirmed by further study.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Randy Kutcher (Plant Pathology of Cereal and Flax
Crops) and Dr. Xueyong Zhao, Yuqiang Li (Cold and Arid Regions
Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Acad-
emy of Sciences) for their helpful comments for an early version of
this manuscript. This study was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No. 40871004).
97
References
Alamusa, J.D., Pei, T.F., Jiang, D.M., 2005. A study on soil moisture content and
plantation fitness for artificial sand-fixation forest in Horqin Sand Land. Ad-
vances in Water Science 16 (3), 426e431 (in Chinese with English summary).
Bergkamp, 1998. A hierarchical view of the interactions of runoff and infiltration
with vegetation and microtopography in semiarid shrublands. Catena 33 (3e4),
201e220.
Berndtsson, R., Chen, H., 1994. Variation of soil water content along a transect in a
desert area. Journal of Arid Environments 27, 127e139.
Berndtsson, R., Nodomi, K., 1996. Soil water and temperature patterns in arid desert
dune sand. Journal of Hydrology 185, 221e240.
Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., Wood, E., Gao, H., Starks, P., Bosch, D., Lakshmi, V., 2003.
Soil moisture estimates from TRMM microwave imager observations over the
southern United States. Remote Sensing of Environment 85 (4), 507e515.
Chen, C.F., Son, N.T., Chang, L.Y., Chen, C.C., 2011. Monitoring of soil moisture vari-
ability in relation to rice cropping systems in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta using
MODIS data. Applied Geography 31, 463e475.
Chen, G., Dong, Z., Yan, P., 1996. Desertification: international research topics and
research strategies of China. Exploration of Nature 15, 1e5 (in Chinese with
English summary).
Das, N.N., Mohanty, B.P., Cosh, M.H., Jackson, T.J., 2008. Modeling and assimilation of
root zone soil moisture using remote sensing observations in Walnut Gulch
Watershed during SMEX04. Remote Sensing of Environment 112 (2), 415e429.
Deckers, J.A., Nachtergaele, F.O., Spaargaren, O.C., 1998. World Reference Base for
Soil Resources. Introduction. ISSS/ISRIC/FAO. Acco, Leuven/Amersfoort, p. 165.
Entin, J.K., Robock, A., Vinnikov, K.Y., Hollinger, S.E., Liu, S.X., Namkhai, A., 2000.
Temporal and spatial scales of observed soil moisture variations in the extra-
tropics. Journal of Geophysical Research 105, 11865e11877.
Fu, B.J., Chen, L.D., Ma, K.M., Zhou, H.F., Wang, J., 2000. The relationships between
land use and soil conditions in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau in northern
Shaanxi, China. Catena 39 (1), 69e78.
He, Z.B., Zhao, W.Z., 2002. Variability of soil moisture of shifting Sandy land and its
dependence on precipitation in semi-arid region. Journal of Desert Research 22
(4), 359e362 (in Chinese with English summary).
Huang, G., Zhao, X.Y., Huang, Y.X., Su, Y.G., 2009. Soil moisture dynamics of artificial
Caragana microphylla shrubs at different topographical sites in Horqin Sand
Land. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology 20 (3), 555e561 (in Chinese with
English summary).
Li, F.R., Kang, L.F., Zhang, H., Zhao, L.Y., Shirato, Y., Taniyama, T., 2005. Changes in
intensity of wind erosion at different stages of degradation development in
grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of Arid Environments 62, 567e585.
Li, X.R., Ma, F.Y., Xiao, H.L., Wang, X.P., Kim, K.C., 2004. Long-term effects of
revegetation on soil water content of sand dunes in arid region of Northern
China. Journal of Arid Environments 57, 1e16.
Loik, M.E., Breshears, D.D., Lauenroth, W.K., Belnap, J., 2004. A multi-scale
perspective of water pulses in dryland ecosystems: climatology and ecohy-
drology of the western USA. Oecologia 141, 269e281.
Mahmood, R., Legates, D.R., Meo, M., 2004. The role of soil water availability in
potential rainfed rice productivity in Bangladesh: applications of the CERES rice
model. Applied Geography 24, 139e159.
Miller, G.R., Baldocchi, D.D., Law, B.E., Meyers, T., 2007. An analysis of soil moisture
dynamics using multi-year data from a network of micrometeorological
observation sites. Advances in Water Resources 30, 1065e1081.
Nash, M.S., Wierenga, P.J., Gutjahr, A., 1991. Time series analysis of soil moisture and
rain along aline transect in arid rangeland. Soil Science 152, 189e198.
Puri, S., Stephen, H., Ahmad, S., 2011. Relating TRMM precipitation radar land sur-
face backscatter response to soil moisture in the southern United States. Journal
of Hydrology 402, 115e125.
Reynolds, J.F., Kemp, P.R., Ogle, K., Fernández, R.J., 2004. Modifying the ‘pulse-
reserve’ paradigm for deserts of North America: precipitation pulses, soil water
and plant responses. Oecologia 141, 194e210.
Sala, O.E., Lauenroth, W.K., Parton, W.J., 1992. Long-term soil water dynamics in the
Shortgrass Steppe. Ecology 73 (4), 1175e1181.
Salve, R., Sudderth, E.A., Clair, S.B.S., Torn, M.S., 2011. Effect of grassland vegetation
type on the responses of hydrological processes to seasonal precipitation pat-
terns. Journal of Hydrology 410, 51e61.
Schneider, K., Huisman, J.A., Breuer, L., 2008. Temporal stability of soil moisture in
various semi-arid steppe ecosystems and its application in remote sensing.
Journal of Hydrology 359 (1e2), 16e29.
Song, D.S., Zhao, K., Guan, Z., 2007. Advances in research on soil moisture by mi-
crowave remote sensing in China. Chinese Geographical Science 17 (2), 186e
191.
Southgate, R.I., Master, P., 1996. Precipitation and biomass changes in the Namib
Desert dune ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments 33, 267e280.
Su, Y.Z., Zhao, H.L., 2003. Losses of soil organic carbon and nitrogen and their
mechanisms in the desertification process of sandy Farmlands in Horqin Sand
Land. Scientia Agricultura Sinica 36 (8), 928e934 (in Chinese with English
summary).
Svetlitchnyi, A.A., Plotnitskiy, S.V., Stepovaya, O.Y., 2003. Spatial distribution of soil
water content within catchments and its modeling on the basis of topographic
data. Journal of Hydrology 277 (1e2), 50e60.
Tomer, M.D., Anderson, J.L., 1995. Variation of soil water storage across a sand plain
hill slope. Soil Science Society of America Journal 59, 1091e1100.
98 S.X. Yao et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 97 (2013) 92e98
van Rheenen, J.W., Werger, M.J.A., Bobbink, R., Daniels, F.J.A., Mulders, W.H.M., 1995.
Short-term accumulation of organic matter and nutrient contents in two dry
sand ecosystems. Vegetatio 120, 161e171.
Wagner, W., Scipal, K., Pathe, C., Gerten, D., Lucht, W., Rudolf, B., 2003. Evaluation of
the agreement between the first global remotely sensed soil moisture data with
model and precipitation data. Journal of Geophysical Research 108 (4611), 15.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003JD003663.
Wang, Q.X., Takahashi, H., 1999. A land surface water deficit model for an arid and
semiarid region: impact of desertification on the water deficit status in the
Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Climate 12 (1), 244e257.
Wei, Y.F., Guo, K., Chen, J.Q., 2008. Effect of precipitation pattern on recruitment of
soil water in Kubuqi desert, northwestern China. Journal of Plant Ecology
(Chinese Version) 32 (6), 1346e1355 (in Chinese with English summary).
Wilson, D.J., Western, A.W., Grayson, R.B., 2004. Identifying and quantifying sources
of variability in temporal and spatial soil moisture observations. Water Re-
sources Research 40 (W02507), 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003WR002306.
Wilson, S.D., Kleb, H., 1996. The influence of prairie and forest vegetation on soil
moisture and available nitrogen. American Midland Naturalist 136, 222e231.
Yang, Q.H., Chen, L.H., Zhang, F., 2008. Responses of soil moisture variations to
precipitation and vegetation. Journal of Beijing Forestry University 30 (2), 88e
94 (in Chinese with English summary).
Yao, S.X., Zhang, T.H., Zhao, C.C., Liu, X.P., 2012. Spatio-temporal variability of soil
moisture in different dunes of Horqin Sand Land. Journal of Soil and Water
Conservation 26 (1), 251e254, 258 (in Chinese with English summary).
Yao, S.X., Zhang, T.H., Zhao, C.C., Liu, X.P., 2013. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of
soils in the Horqin Sand Land of Inner Mongolia, Northern China. Environ-
mental Monitoring and Assessment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s 10661-012-
3002-5.
Zhang, H., Li, F.R., Li, Y.L., 2004. Wind regime and resultant sand-transporting
potential of Naiman Banner in Horqin Sand Land during the past five
years. Journal of Desert Research 24, 623e628 (in Chinese with English
summary).
Zuo, X.A., Zhao, H.L., Zhao, X.Y., Zhang, T.H., Guo, Y.R., Wang, S.K., Drake, S., 2008.
Spatial pattern and heterogeneity of soil properties in sand dunes under grazing
and restoration in Horqin Sand Land, northern China. Soil & Tillage Research 99,
202e212.