Temporal and spatial distribution of soil water repellency in grassland soils and its relation to soil moisture, hydrophobic matter, and particle size

In grassland soils, soil water repellency (SWR) may be one of the triggers of soil erosion and degradation as it can reduce water infiltration and penetration into the soil. Few studies were focusing on the evaluation of soil hydro-physical properties, such as hydrophobicity, and their relation to soil moisture, hydrophobic matter, and particle size in grassland soils. In this study, 800 soil samples were collected from the Xilingol grassland in Inner Mongolia, China, using the water droplet penetration time (WDPT) test to evaluate water repellency and we aimed to investigate the temporal and spatial distribution of SWR in grassland soils using the Kriging and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation methods and determine the physical-chemical properties that trigger the SWR. The results showed that the grassland soils in the studied area were slightly water-repellent and a few portions of the area exhibited strong water-repellency. In April, areas of soils with a depth of 0–5 cm and slight to strong SWR accounted for 80 % of the total studied area, of which 5 % had strong water repellency. Moreover, in August, 90 % of the studied area consisted of soils with slight to strong SWR, of which 60 % accounted for soils with strong SWR. With a soil water content of 10.95 %, the SWR reached its peak, with an average value of 60.32 s. The SWR was positively correlated with total N, available N, and soil organic matter (SOM) contents, and therein the hydrophobic acid matter and the hydrophobic basic matter content had a positive contribution to SWR, and the hydrophilic basic matter and the hydrophilic acidic matter had a negative contribution on SWR. In addition, SWR was found to be negatively related to the soil particle size (r = −0.672). A slight SWR was also observed in the majority of the studied area, particularly in the topsoil and fine soils, especially during the monsoon period; hence, SWR must be also considered to reduce the risk of occurrence of soil erosion and degradation in grasslands.