Response of soil organic carbon to revegetation, engineering measures and extreme rainfall-triggered erosion in an agricultural watershed in the loess tableland–gully region of China

Response of soil organic carbon to revegetation, engineering measures and extreme rainfall-triggered erosion in an agricultural watershed in the loess tableland–gully region of China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Response of soil organic carbon to revegetation, engineering measures and extreme rainfall-triggered erosion in an agricultural watershed in the loess tableland–gully region of China Jiaxin Li, Yuntao Wang, Wen-Zhao Guo, Zhenlai Chen, Li Luo, Haoze Sun, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505603/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background and aims Soil and water conservation measures significantly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) worldwide. We aim to study the effects of revegetation, engineering measures and heavy rainstorm–induced erosion on SOC in the different topography. Methods In this study, 405 soil cores from 3 topographic positions (tableland, slope and valley bottom)) under different vegetation types and engineering measures were analyzed through field sampling combined with an indoor test analysis in the Wangdonggou catchment. Results Vegetation and engineering measures increased the soil organic carbon content (SOCC) and soil organic carbon stock (SOCS), but the benefits are different. Rainstorm–induced erosion decreased both the SOCC and SOCS. Specifically, revegetation clearly increased surface SOC but not SOC in deep layers. Compared with that in the eroded area, the SOCC in the 0 ~ 20 cm and 40 ~ 60 cm soil layers increased by 3.31 and 1.61 times after revegetation, respectively. With increasing erosion intensity, the decreasing trends in the SOCC and SOCS were as follows: surface erosion (3.25 g kg⁻¹~ 5.74 g kg⁻¹) > ephemeral gully erosion (3.85 g kg⁻¹~ 5.39 g kg⁻¹) > landslide (1.57 g kg⁻¹~ 3.87 g kg⁻¹). In addition, obvious differences in SOC were observed among the three topographies as follows: valley bottom > tableland > valley slope. Finally, engineering measures increased the SOCC and SOCS by 1.19 ~ 4.24 and 1.32 ~ 3.7 times, respectively. Conclusions Engineering measures and vegetation measures can increase organic carbon, while erosion leads to a decrease in organic carbon. Soil Soil Organic Carbon Soil and water conservation measures Vegetation restoration Soil erosion Full Text Supplementary Files Revisedversionincludingtrackchanges.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7505603","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":523854155,"identity":"11ec10e1-5372-4c1c-9b9a-acc0c807e301","order_by":0,"name":"Jiaxin Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiaxin","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":523854156,"identity":"9edd9206-f40d-4c24-8d05-0f896ed78a5c","order_by":1,"name":"Yuntao 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China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Soil, Soil Organic Carbon, Soil and water conservation measures, Vegetation restoration, Soil erosion","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505603/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505603/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground and aims\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSoil and water conservation measures significantly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) worldwide. We aim to study the effects of revegetation, engineering measures and heavy rainstorm\u0026ndash;induced erosion on SOC in the different topography.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this study, 405 soil cores from 3 topographic positions (tableland, slope and valley bottom)) under different vegetation types and engineering measures were analyzed through field sampling combined with an indoor test analysis in the Wangdonggou catchment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eVegetation and engineering measures increased the soil organic carbon content (SOCC) and soil organic carbon stock (SOCS), but the benefits are different. Rainstorm\u0026ndash;induced erosion decreased both the SOCC and SOCS. Specifically, revegetation clearly increased surface SOC but not SOC in deep layers. Compared with that in the eroded area, the SOCC in the 0\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;20 cm and 40\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;60 cm soil layers increased by 3.31 and 1.61 times after revegetation, respectively. With increasing erosion intensity, the decreasing trends in the SOCC and SOCS were as follows: surface erosion (3.25 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;~ 5.74 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;)\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;ephemeral gully erosion (3.85 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;~ 5.39 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;)\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;landslide (1.57 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;~ 3.87 g kg⁻\u0026sup1;). In addition, obvious differences in SOC were observed among the three topographies as follows: valley bottom\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;tableland\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;valley slope. Finally, engineering measures increased the SOCC and SOCS by 1.19\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;4.24 and 1.32\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;3.7 times, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEngineering measures and vegetation measures can increase organic carbon, while erosion leads to a decrease in organic carbon.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Response of soil organic carbon to revegetation, engineering measures and extreme rainfall-triggered erosion in an agricultural watershed in the loess tableland–gully region of China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-15 20:03:45","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505603/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"9b85d7ff-87db-4eb0-b4e7-10a4f49ef6be","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 15th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-13T22:17:47+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-15 20:03:45","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7505603","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7505603","identity":"rs-7505603","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}