Comparative Analysis on Soil Basic Properties Between Southern and Northern Slopes in Funiu Mountain, China

The spatial variation of soil physical and chemical properties in Funiu Mountain was studied to provide references for identifying soil spatial variation mechanism in bordering land of China warm temperate zone and northern subtropical region. Using vertical gradient sampling and traditional statistics method, the soil samples at the altitude from 1640 m to 1870 m were collected to compare physical and chemical properties between south and north slopes of the Funiu Mountain. The results showed that soil pH, soil organic matter and soil total nitrogen were remarkably correlated with altitude change, but soil electrical conductivity, soil available nitrogen, available phosphors, available potassium, and total potassium were not related to altitude. With the increase of altitude, soil pH and total nitrogen increased, but soil organic matter decreased. Compared with the soil properties of northern slope in Funiu Mountain, soil acidity, electrical conductivity, and available nitrogen were higher in southern slope. Especially, the soil available nitrogen was much higher than the mean value observed in northern slope samples. The contents of soil organic matter, available phosphorus, available potassium, total nitrogen, and total potassium showed no striking difference on between southern and northern slopes. In conclusion, both altitude and slope direction significantly influenced spatial variation of soil properties in Funiu Mountain. It added to the boundary effect of Qinling Mountains, and revealled the interaction mechanism of the environmental elements such as land-climate-soil-ecosystem in Funiu Mountain.