Quantifying the interactive effects of organic matter and charged soil
particles on aggregate stability following natural vegetation
restoration
Abstract
Vegetation restoration can input amounts of organic matter into soils to
improve soil aggregate stability; for this process, the interaction
between organic matter and charged soil particles is a key. However, the
molecular-scale knowledge about organic matter-mineral interactions
remains largely qualitative. Here, we analyzed soil particles surface
electrochemical properties and soil internal forces (electrostatic,
hydration , and van der Waals forces) along vegetation restoration to
quantitatively evaluate how SOM increase the stability of soil
aggregate. Our results revealed that the enrichment of SOM after
revegetation increased the cation exchange capacity (CEC), specific
surface area (SSA), and soil surface charge density (σ0), thereby
strengthening the electrostatic repulsive pressure. Besides, the
increasing SOM led to the increase in Hamaker constant at the molecular
level and thus enhanced the van der Waals attractive force. As a result,
the net pressure of soil internal forces was repulsive and decreased
with increasing SOM during vegetation restoration. Meanwhile, the net
pressure increased first and then leveled off with the decrease of
electrolyte concentration in the bulk solution. The determined soil
aggregate breaking strength showed similar trends to that of net
pressure. Soil aggregate stability under different succession stages
followed the order of farmland < grassland < shrub
< forest. Overall, the experimental results of soil aggregate
stability were in excellent consistent with the theoretical predictions
of soil internal forces. Consequently, we conclude that organic matter
input during vegetation restoration increased aggregate stability mainly
due to the decrease of the repulsive net pressure of soil internal
forces.