Forest Soil Water-Holding Capacity in Karst Peak-Cluster Depression Areas

The study was conducted in arbor forests, arbor-shrub forests and shrub lands in Karst peak-cluster depression areas. We investigated soil property and water-holding capacity in the three types of woodland by means of cutting-ring and water immersion. Our results show that soil bulk density presents an increasing trend along with soil layers deepening, while total soil porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity decrease. Natural water-holding capacity of soil, saturation water-holding capacity of soil, water-storage capacity of capillary and soil water storage capacity decline with deeper soil layers in all the three forests. Water-holding capacity and immersion time of soil meet the equation Y=kln (X)+b and the equation Y=k(X)-b fits water absorption rate and soaking time of soil well.