Key driving forces of desertification in the Mu Us Desert, China.

ABSTRACT: The temporal trends and key driving forces of desertification in the Mu Us Desert are representatives of most arid regions of Asia with a high risk of desertification. We analyzed the significance of Aeolian transport on desertification in the Mu Us Desert by field investigations, sampling, wind tunnel experiments, particle size and nutrient measurements, and statistics on aeolian transport potentials. The results showed that high intensities of aeolian processes may result in low differences in aeolian transport despite differences in the underlying sediments. When high desertification occurred in the 1970s, the annual losses of the ammonium N, nitrate N, available K, and available P were approximately 116, 312, 46,436, and 1,251 kg km^-2, respectively. After 2010, the losses we

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5479821 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature