Soil Organic Carbon Density and Land Restoration: Example of Southern Mountain Area of Ningxia Province, Northwest China

Soil organic carbon (SOC) density was researched in southern NingXia with five different land uses: shrubland, farmland, grazing grassland, orchard, and artificial grassland. The results have shown that (1) content of SOC in soil 0-20cm deep was greatest for grazing grassland and less for bush forestland, farmland, artificial grassland, and orchard; (2) content of SOC of bush forestland and orchard decreased slowly as depth of profile increased, whereas SOC of farmland, grazing grassland, and artificial grassland decreased fast; (3) SOC density of grazing grassland and farmland was greater than the bush forestland, artificial grassland, and orchard; and (4) the establishment and development of C. korshinski on eroded soil resulted in significant improvement of SOC density.