Geochemical characteristics and growth suitability assessment of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi in the Earth's critical zone of North China

Geochemical differentiation of soils has a series of consequences on plant and places pressure on the ecological environment.The quantitative evaluation of element migration in the Earth’s critical zone is a challenging task.In this study,two demonstration study areas of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi were selected,and multiple chemical weathering indexes,chemical loss fraction,mass migration coefficients and biological enrichment coefficient method were used to assess the ecological and geochemical suitability.The results show that for the element of Fe,Zn,Se,Cu,Co,Ni,Mo and Ge,the degree of weathering and soil maturation,were greater in the rhyolitic tuff area than in the Plagioclase gneiss area.In both research sites,the heavy metal level of samples in Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi did not exceed the standard limits.The plagioclase gneiss region’s surface soil environment was more alkaline,and the content of soil organic matter was lower,resulting in a higher bioenrichment intensity of Ge,Co,Cu,and Se elements in Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi than in the rhyolite-tuff area.The elements of Cd,Nb,Mo,Pb and As are considerably enriched in the soil of the plagioclase gneiss area but lost by leaching in the soil of the rhyolite tuff area,which is connected to the interplay of elemental abundance and human impact in the parent materials.This study provides a good example of how to assess growth suitability of Chinese medicinal materials in the Earth’s critical zone.

Conversion relationship of rainfall-soil moisture-groundwater in Quaternary thick cohesive soil in Jianghan Plain,Hubei Province,China

The scientific field test site of rainfall-soil moisture-groundwater conversion in Dabie Mountain Area–Jianghan Plain is located in the northern region of the Jianghan Plain,the transition zone between the Dabie Mountain Area and Jianghan Plain.It’s a great field test site to study the material and energy exchange among rainfall,soil moisture,and groundwater of the Earth’s critical zone in subtropical monsoon climate plain areas.This paper analyzed the connection between rainfall and volume water content(VWC)of soil at different depths of several soil profiles,and the dynamic feature of groundwater was discussed,which reveals the rainfall infiltration recharge of Quaternary Upper Pleistocene strata.The results show that the Quaternary Upper Pleistocene aquifer groundwater accepts a little direct rainfall recharge,while the lateral recharge is the main supplement source.There were 75 effective rainfall events among 120 rainfall events during the monitoring period,with an accumulated amount of 672.9 mm,and the percentages of effective rainfall amount and duration time were 62.50%and 91.56%,respectively.The max evaporation depth at the upper part in Quaternary cohesive soil was no less than 1.4 m.The soil profile was divided into four zones:(1)The sensitive zone of rainfall infiltration within 1.4 m,where the material and energy exchange frequently near the interface between atmosphere and soil;(2)the buffer zone of rainfall infiltration between 1.4 m and 3.5 m;(3)the migration zone of rainfall infiltration between 3.5 m and 5.0 m;and(4)the rainfall infiltration and groundwater level co-influenced zone below 5.0 m.The results revealed the reaction of soil moisture and groundwater to rainfall in the area covered by cohesive soil under humid climate in Earth’s critical zone,which is of great theoretical and practical significance for groundwater resources evaluation and development,groundwater environmental protection,ecological environmental improvement,drought disaster prevention,and flood disaster prevention in subtropical monsoon climate plain areas.

Comparing mineral weathering and elemental transport between earth's critical zone with different parent rocks in Yanshan Mountain,Hebei province,China

Bedrock weathering performs a significant influence on the evolution of Earth’s critical zone.Carbonate rock(dolostone),metamorphic rock(gneiss),and sedimentary rock(sandstone)geological formations in Yanshan Mountain,Hebei Province,are taken as objects to probe the controlling of geological formations on weathering characteristics,migration,and enrichment of elements as well as structure of Earth’s critical zone under the identical climate conditions through geological field survey,analysis on minerals component,element distribution in the weathering profile.The dolostone geological formation(DGF)is lithologically dominated by dolostone,characterized by the strongest and predominant chemical weathering.During bedrock weathering and pedogenesis,DGF is marked by significant depletion of CaO,Mg O,S,Mn,Mo and enrichment of N,K,Fe_(2)O_(3),and Zn with concentrations of P,Cu,and B keeping stable.Shortage of soil-forming materials and significant loss are driven by soil erosion,which results in thin regolith and soil.The soil thickness is less than 10 cm,and the regolith thickness is less than 30 cm.The vegetation community is predominantly rock arbor or brush,which is calcivorous and tolerant of barrenness.Plagiogneiss is a dominant rock type of gneiss geological formation(GGF),characterized by the weakest weathering and fast chemical and physical weathering rate.GGF is masked by significant depletion of P,K,CaO,MgO,Fe_(2)O_(3),Mn,Cu and enrichment of N,S,Mo,and B,with contents of Zn keeping stable.Both soil and regolith developed in GGF are relatively thick for one of the reasons that biotite expands during weathering.The soil thickness is more than 50 cm,and the regolith thickness ranges from 100 to 200 cm.The vegetation community is predominantly high-quality economic forests and various arbors because of the enrichment of nutrients in GGF.Sandstone is primarily a rock type of sandstone geological formation(SGF),characterized by moderate weathering degree and slow chemical weathering rate.SGF is marked by significant depletion of P,K,CaO,MgO,Fe_(2)O_(3),and enrichment of N,S,Mn,Cu,Zn,and Mo,with fluctuant changes of Zn and B.The thickness of soil developed in SGF varies between that of DGF and GGF.The soil thickness ranges from 30 to 50 cm,and the regolith thickness ranges from 50 to 100 cm.Chinese pines are widely spread on the shady slopes of SGF.Research provides theoretical support for screening dominant ecological resource areas,ecological industry development and ecological protection and restoration for Yanshan Mountain,Hebei Province.

A classification scheme for Earth’s critical zones and its application in China

As the thin layer at the Earth’s terrestrial surface,the critical zone(CZ)ranges from the vegetation canopy to the aquifer or the interface between saprolite and bedrock and varies greatly in space.In the last decade,much attention has been paid to the establishment of Critical Zone Observatories(CZOs)that focus on various aspects of CZ science over different time scales.However,to the best of our knowledge,few studies have explicitly contributed to CZ classification or regionalization;thus,the spatial patterns of similar CZs have not been clearly identified.This study proposed a three-category CZ classification scheme by integrating environmental factors that greatly affect the transfer of energy and mass in the Earth’s near-surface environment and thus dominate CZ formation and evolution,i.e.,climate,parent material,soil type,groundwater table depth,geomorphology and land use.The main goal was to highlight the zonality of these driving forces,of which the high-category classification units were overlaid to delineate the CZ boundaries.The CZ regionalization of China was performed as a case study,resulting in 44 major regions(1st category),100 submajor regions(2nd category)and 1448 regions(3rd category).The spatial distributions and driving factors of the ten largest regions were identified,followed by a simple comparison of the CZO network.Then,the proposed CZ regionalization was compared with recent studies on regionalization in China to evaluate its successes and weaknesses.By linking together CZ studies from the last decade,we advocate that a theoretical framework integrating the CZ evolution processes with ecological functions acts as one of the frontiers of CZ science.Our study demonstrates that the proposed three-category CZ classification scheme effectively identifies the spatial variations in CZs and could thus be further applied in other areas to advance terrestrial environmental research and provide decision support for the sustainable management of natural resources.

Critical parameters near the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition in La_(0.67–x)Y_xBa_(0.23)Ca_(0.1)MnO_3 compounds(x=0.10 and x=0.15)

The critical properties of the mixed manganite La0.67–x Y x Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 with x=0.10 and x=0.15 around the paramagnetic（PM）-ferromagnetic（FM） phase transition were investigated through various techniques. These involved modified Arrott plots, Kouvel-Fisher method and Widom scaling relation. Magnetic data, analyzed in the critical region, using the above methods, yielded the critical exponents for（x=0.10） La0.57Y0.10Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3（β=0.312±0.002 and γ=1.147±0.003 at T C=299.23±0.05 K）. Moreover, the estimated critical exponents of（x=0.15） La0.52Y0.15Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 were β=0.286±0.004 and γ=0.943±0.002 at T C=289.53±0.06 K. The critical exponents＇ values were close to the theoretical values of 3D-Ising model and tricritical mean-field model. These results suggested that the present composition should be close to a tricritical point in the La0.67–x Y x Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 phase diagram. Expressing the field dependence as ΔS M∝H n allowed us to establish a relationship between the exponent n and the critical exponents of the material and to propose a phenomenological universal curve for the field dependence of ΔS M.