The spatial relationship between human activities and C, N, P, S in soil based on landscape geochemical interpretation

Environ Geochem Health. 2016 Apr;38(2):381-98. doi: 10.1007/s10653-015-9725-9. Epub 2015 Jun 9.

Abstract

The development and formation of chemical elements in soil are affected not only by parent material, climate, biology, and topology factors, but also by human activities. As the main elements supporting life on earth system, the C, N, P, S cycles in soil have been altered by human activity through land-use change, agricultural intensification, and use of fossil fuels. The present study attempts to analyze whether and how a connection can be made between macroscopical control and microcosmic analysis, to estimate the impacts of human activities on C, N, P, S elements in soil, and to determine a way to describe the spatial relationship between C, N, P, S in soil and human activities, by means of landscape geochemical theories and methods. In addition, the disturbances of human activities on C, N, P, S are explored through the analysis of the spatial relationship between human disturbed landscapes and element anomalies, thereby determining the diversified rules of the effects. The study results show that the rules of different landscapes influencing C, N, P, S elements are diversified, and that the C element is closely related to city landscapes; furthermore, the elements N, P, and S are shown to be closely related to river landscapes; the relationships between mine landscapes and the elements C, N, P, S are apparent; the relationships between the elements C, N, P, S and road landscapes are quite close, which shows that road landscapes have significant effects on these elements. Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that the response mechanism analysis of human disturbance and soil chemical element aggregation is feasible, based on the landscape geochemical theories and methods. The spatial information techniques, such as remote sensing and geographic information systems, are effective for research on soil element migration.

Keywords: Geographic information system; Human activity; Landscape geochemistry; Remote sensing; Spatial distribution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / analysis*
  • Geographic Information Systems*
  • Humans
  • Nitrogen / analysis*
  • Phosphorus / analysis*
  • Soil / chemistry*
  • Sulfur / analysis*

Substances

  • Soil
  • Phosphorus
  • Sulfur
  • Carbon
  • Nitrogen