Soils with more clay and dense vegetation were rich in soil carbon along Wadi Al-Sharaea, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12988
• Publication Date: 2023-01-16T07:06:56Z
• Authors: Hanan E.M. Osman; Abeer A. Elaidarous; Mohamed H. El-Morsy; Ebrahem M. Eid; Amr E. Keshta
• Keywords: Wadi; Clay soil

In arid ecosystems, lack of vegetation and nutrients can negatively impact soil carbon (C) content. the current study, our goals were to assess C stocks a depth 50 cm in an ecosystem (Wadi Al-Sharaea, Saudi Arabia) determine their relation different cover. To address research objective, total 102 quadrate (randomly selected) established along desert wadi. Soil samples collected with 5 interval, then Bulk Density (SBD, g/cm3), Organic Content (SOC, g C/kg), (kg C/m2) estimated. Both mechanical chemical analyses conducted for composite sample. Study sites categorized based on visual cover (VC) percentage (%) into three major groups: 1) scarce (VC less than 25%); 2) medium is higher 25% 75%); lastly 3) dense 75%). Soils characterized by sand content (48.2%, both fine coarse compiled) silt (36.7 ± 1.64%) or clay (10.1 1.28%). There significant differences among Calcium (Ca) Potassium (K) (p < 0.05), while those plant communities showed highest Ca K (1.7 0.24 0.2 0.03 meq/l, respectively). Plant had lowest SBD (1.96 g/cm3) SOC (14.9 2.1 kg C/m2). Moreover, data indicated that strong negative correlation, where soils most correlation (R2 = 0.95). Our results recommend ecosystems should be implemented global budget better elucidate factors controlling at regional scales.