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Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 24904

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ying Zhao

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Guest Editor

1. College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
2. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: soil physics; soil degradation; saline-alkaline land; hydrological modelling; agricultural productivity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jianguo Zhang

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Guest Editor

College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: soil water–salt transport; desertification control; soil salt crust

Prof. Jianhua Si

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Guest Editor

Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: ecohydrology; plant physiology; hydrology and water resouces in drylands

Dr. Jie Xue

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Guest Editor

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830002, China
Interests: ecohydrology; restoration ecology; water resouces and cycling in drylands

Prof. Zhongju Meng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural Univeristy, Hohhot 010018, China
Interests: desertification control; soil physical hydrology; ecological restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil hydrology is an inter-discipline of soil science and hydrology that mainly focuses on interactive pedologic and hydrologic processes and properties. The Critical Zone is the thin layer of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and near-surface environment and plays fundamental roles in sustaining life and humanity. Desert, a unique ecosystem, becomes a more critical research area in the Earth’s Critical Zone framework but relatively less managed. There is such vast literature suggesting that we could tip the climate to a more humid and productive stage if we could vegetate that desert. Nevertheless, the significance of desert ecosystem management requires supportive and regulatory ecosystem services, ecosystem sustainability, and a feedback loop between ecological and hydrological processes. Although the benefits of reversing desertification, preventing erosion, and providing biomass have been recognized, the effects of anthropogenic revegetation on soil water and carbon cycles, among many other soil hydrogical processes, are still poorly understood. This Special Issue is open to advanced desert research on control of land degradation and desertification, climate and soil–water interactions, soil–plant–water–biota processes, the biogeochemical process for C and nutrient cycling, management of desert–oasis ecotone, critical zone observatories, and desert evolution and environment. We wish to compile research works that will show state-of-the-art and recent, cutting-edge research achievements. Theoretical, methodological, and study case papers are welcome.

Prof. Ying Zhao
Dr. Jianguo Zhang
Prof. Jianhua Si
Dr. Jie Xue
Prof. Zhongju Meng
Guest Editors

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Keywords

processes
desertification
C and nutrient cycling
climate
terrestrial ecosystem

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 174 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Special Issue: Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions: Soil Water Dynamics, Driving Factors, and Practices

by Ying Zhao, Jianguo Zhang, Jianhua Si, Jie Xue and Zhongju Meng

Water 2022, 14(17), 2635; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14172635 - 26 Aug 2022

Viewed by 1166

Abstract

Soil hydrology is an inter-discipline of soil science and hydrology that mainly focuses on interactive pedologic and hydrologic processes and properties [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

Research

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16 pages, 21040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Dynamic Changes of Soil Erosion in the North and South Mountains of Lanzhou

by Hua Zhang, Jinping Lei, Hao Wang, Cungang Xu and Yuxin Yin

Water 2022, 14(15), 2388; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14152388 - 01 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1463

Abstract

The North and South Mountains of Lanzhou City are the ecological protection barriers and an important part of the ecological system of Lanzhou City. This study takes the North and South Mountains as the study area, calculates the soil erosion modulus of the North and South Mountains of Lanzhou City based on the five major soil erosion factors in the RUSLE model, and analyses the spatial and temporal dynamics of soil erosion in the North and South Mountains of Lanzhou City and the soil erosion characteristics under different environmental factors. The results of the study show that: The intensity of soil erosion is dominated by slight erosion, which was distributed in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the North and South Mountains in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018. Under different environmental factors, the soil erosion modulus increased with elevation and then decreased; the soil erosion modulus increased with a slope; the average soil erosion modulus of grassland was the largest, followed by forest land, cultivated land, unused land, construction land, and it was the smallest for water; except for bare land, the average soil erosion modulus decreases with the increase of vegetation cover; Soil erosion modulus was the greatest in the pedocal of the North and South Mountains, and the least in the alpine soil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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12 pages, 3554 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Irrigation Regimes on Soil Water Dynamics of Two Typical Woody Halophyte Species in Taklimakan Desert Highway Shelterbelt

by Jiao Liu, Ying Zhao, Jianguo Zhang, Qiuli Hu and Jie Xue

Water 2022, 14(12), 1908; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14121908 - 14 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1583

Abstract

Freshwater resources are in a shortage in arid regions worldwide, especially in extremely arid desert areas. To solve this problem, highly saline groundwater is used for drip irrigation of desert plants. Since more irrigation infiltrating into the deep soil cannot be absorbed and utilized by desert plants, it is crucial to determine optimal water-saving irrigation regimes. In this study, we examined the effects of irrigation regimes on the soil water dynamics of two typical woody halophyte species (Haloxylon and Calligonum), and quantified the irrigation intervals and periods based on a field test of precision irrigation control in the Taklimakan Desert Highway shelterbelt. Results showed that the change in soil moisture of two species in the shallow 0–60 cm layer could be divided into a rapid decline period (1–9 d), a slow decline period (9–19 d), and a relatively stable period (19–39 d) after irrigation. The decrease rate of soil moisture at the 0–60 cm depth was significantly higher than that at the 60–200 cm depth. The irrigation regime combining 35 mm irrigation with 10 days was beneficial to soil water storage and plant use with respect to Calligonum, while the irrigation regime combining 35 mm irrigation with 40 days was best for Haloxylon. Increasing the single irrigation amount and prolonging the irrigation period can further enable the more effective use of irrigation water. This study highlights that saline groundwater irrigation provides potential advantages for desert plants’ survival under reasonable irrigation regimes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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15 pages, 3574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Shelterbelt Construction on Soil Water Characteristic Curves in an Extreme Arid Shifting Desert

by Chuanyu Ma, Luobin Tang, Wenqian Chang, Muhammad Tauseef Jaffar, Jianguo Zhang, Xiong Li, Qing Chang and Jinglong Fan

Water 2022, 14(11), 1803; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14111803 - 02 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2103

Abstract

To explore the impact of artificial shelterbelt construction with saline irrigation on the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) of shifting sandy soil in extreme arid desert areas, three treatments including under the shelterbelt (US), bare land in the shelterbelt (BL) and shifting sandy land (CK) in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert were selected. The age of the shelterbelt is 16, and the vegetation cover is mainly Calligonum mongolicum. The soils from different depths of 0–30 cm were taken keeping in view the objective of the study. The SWCCs were determined by the centrifugal method and fitting was performed using various models such as the Gardner (G) model, Brooks–Corey (BC) model and Van Genuchten (VG) model. Then, the most suitable SWCC model was selected. The results showed that electrical conductivity (EC) and organic matter content of BL and US decreased with the increasing soil depth, while the EC and organic matter content of CK increased with the soil depth. The changes in soil bulk density, EC and organic matter of 0–5 cm soil were mostly significant (p < 0.05) for different treatments, and the differences in SWCCs were also significant among different treatments. Moreover, the construction of an artificial shelterbelt improved soil water-holding capacity and had the most significant impacts on the surface soil. The increase in soil water-holding capacity decreased with increasing soil depth, and the available soil water existed in the form of readily available water. The BC model and VG model were found to be better than the G model in fitting results, and the BC model had the best fitting result on CK, while the VG Model had the best fitting result on BL with higher organic matter and salt contents. Comparing the fitting results of the three models, we concluded that although the fitting accuracy of the VG model tended to decrease with increasing organic matter and salinity, the VG model had the highest fitting accuracy when comparing with BC and G models for the BL treatment with high organic matter and salinity. Therefore, the influence of organic matter and salinity should be considered when establishing soil water transfer function. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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14 pages, 2534 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photosynthetic Responses of Two Woody Halophyte Species to Saline Groundwater Irrigation in the Taklimakan Desert

by Jiao Liu, Ying Zhao, Tanveer Ali Sial, Haidong Liu, Yongdong Wang and Jianguo Zhang

Water 2022, 14(9), 1385; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14091385 - 24 Apr 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1609

Abstract

The study of plant photosynthesis under different degrees of drought stress can provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism of plant drought resistance. In the Taklimakan Desert, saline groundwater is the only local water source with regard to shelterbelt construction and determines plant growth and photosynthetic changes. In this study, daily dynamics of gas exchange parameters and their responses to photosynthetic photon flux density at three irrigation levels (W1 = 17.5, W2 = 25, W3 = 35 mm) were measured for two main species, i.e., Calligonum mongolicum (C) and Haloxylon ammodendron (H). H was better adapted to drought stress than C. Net photosynthetic rate (P_N) was mainly related to soil water status in the main root system activity layer. In July, the daily variations of P_N and transpiration (T_r) for C were higher than H. C increased water use efficiency (WUE) with increases in P_N, while H decreased T_r to obtain a higher WUE. Either C or H, drought reduced the low light and metabolic capacity, and thus decreased the light adaptability and photosynthesis potential. We suggest a prerequisite understanding of physiological mechanisms and possible plant morphological adjustments required to adapt plant species to desert drought conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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18 pages, 35007 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water Use Characteristics of Two Dominant Species in the Mega-Dunes of the Badain Jaran Desert

by Jie Qin, Jianhua Si, Bing Jia, Chunyan Zhao, Dongmeng Zhou, Xiaohui He, Chunlin Wang and Xinglin Zhu

Water 2022, 14(1), 53; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14010053 - 28 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2393

Abstract

The sparse natural vegetation develops special water use characteristics to adapt to inhospitable desert areas. The water use characteristics of such plants in desert areas are not yet completely understood. In this study, we compare the differences in water use characteristics between two dominant species of the Badain Jaran Desert mega-dunes—Zygophyllum xanthoxylum and Artemisia ordosica—by investigating δ²H and δ¹⁸O in plant xylem (the organization that transports water and inorganic salts in plant stems) and soil water, and δ¹³C in plant leaves. The results indicate that Z. xanthoxylum absorbed 86.5% of its water from soil layers below 90 cm during growing seasons, while A. ordosica derived 79.90% of its water from the 0–120 cm soil layers during growing seasons. Furthermore, the long-term leaf-level water use efficiency of A. ordosica (123.17 ± 2.13 μmol/mol) was higher than that of Z. xanthoxylum (97.36 ± 1.16 μmol/mol). The differences in water use between the two studied species were mainly found to relate to their root distribution characteristics. A better understanding of the water use characteristics of plants in desert habitats can provide a theoretical basis to assist in the selection of species for artificial vegetation restoration in arid areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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14 pages, 3117 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Water Supply Increases N Acquisition and N Resorption from Old Branches in the Leafless Shrub Calligonum caput-medusae at the Taklimakan Desert Margin

by Caibian Huang, Fanjiang Zeng, Bo Zhang, Jie Xue and Shaomin Zhang

Water 2021, 13(22), 3288; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13223288 - 20 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1751

Abstract

Irrigation is the main strategy deployed to improve vegetation establishment, but the effects of increasing water availability on N use strategies in desert shrub species have received little attention. Pot experiments with drought-tolerant shrub Calligonum caput-medusae supplied with water at five field capacities in the range of 30–85% were conducted using local soil at the southern margin of the Taklimakan Desert. We examined the changes in plant biomass, soil N status, and plant N traits, and addressed the relationships between them in four- and seven-month-old saplings and mature shrubs after 28 months. Results showed that the growth of C. caput-medusae was highly responsive to increased soil moisture supply, and strongly depleted the soil available inorganic N pools from 16.7 mg kg⁻¹ to an average of 1.9 mg kg⁻¹, although the total soil N pool increased in all treatments. Enhancement of biomass production by increasing water supply was closely linked to increasing total plant N pool, N use efficiency (NUE), N resorption efficiency (NRE), and proficiency (NRP) in four-month saplings, but that to total plant N pool, NRE, and NRP after 28 months. The well-watered plants had lower N concentrations in senesced branches compared to their counterparts experiencing the two lowest water inputs. The mature shrubs had higher NRE and NRP than saplings and the world mean levels, suggesting a higher N conservation. Structural equation models showed that NRE was largely controlled by senesced branch N concentrations, and indirectly affected by water supply, whereas NRP was mainly determined by water supply. Our results indicated that increasing water availability increased the total N uptake and N resorption from old branches to satisfy the N requirement of C. caput-medusae. The findings lay important groundwork for vegetation establishment in desert ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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11 pages, 2836 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Topsoil Nutrients Drive Leaf Carbon and Nitrogen Concentrations of a Desert Phreatophyte in Habitats with Different Shallow Groundwater Depths

by Bo Zhang, Gangliang Tang, Hanlin Luo, Hui Yin, Zhihao Zhang, Jie Xue, Caibian Huang, Yan Lu, Muhammad Shareef, Xiaopeng Gao and Fanjiang Zeng

Water 2021, 13(21), 3093; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13213093 - 03 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1519

Abstract

Phreatophytes are deep-rooted plants that reach groundwater and are widely distributed in arid and semiarid areas around the world. Multiple environmental factors affect the growth of phreatophytes in desert ecosystems. However, the key factor determining the leaf nutrients of phreatophytes in arid regions remains elusive. This study aimed to reveal the key factors affecting the ecological stoichiometry of desert phreatophytes in the shallow groundwater of three oases at the southern rim of the Taklimakan Desert in Central Asia. Groundwater depth; groundwater pH and the degree of mineralization of groundwater; topsoil pH and salt concentration; topsoil and leaf carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations of phreatophytic Alhagi sparsifolia grown at groundwater depths of 1.3–2.2 m in the saturated aquifer zone in a desert–oasis ecotone in northwestern China were investigated. Groundwater depth was closely related to the mineralization degree of groundwater, topsoil C and P concentrations, and topsoil salt content and pH. The ecological stoichiometry of A. sparsifolia was influenced by depth, pH and the degree of mineralization of groundwater, soil nutrients and salt concentration. However, the effects of soil C and P concentrations on the leaf C and N concentrations of A. sparsifolia were higher than those of groundwater depth and pH and soil salt concentration. Moreover, A. sparsifolia absorbed more N in the soil than in the groundwater and atmosphere. This quantitative study provides new insights into the nutrient utilization of a desert phreatophyte grown at shallow groundwater depths in extremely arid desert ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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15 pages, 38017 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Characterization of the Hydrochemistry and Main Controlling Factors of Lakes in the Badain Jaran Desert, China

by Bing Jia, Jianhua Si, Haiyang Xi and Jie Qin

Water 2021, 13(20), 2931; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13202931 - 19 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2034

Abstract

Badain Jaran Desert, the coexistence of dunes and lakes, and the presence of the world’s tallest dunes, has attracted worldwide attention among hydrologists. Freshwater, brackish, and saline lakes coexistence in the Badain Jaran Desert under extremely arid environmental conditions. This raises the question of why diverse lake water types exist under the same climatic conditions. Answering this question requires the characterization of lake hydrochemistry and the main controlling factors. The purpose of the presented research was to systematically analyzed samples from 80 lakes using statistical analysis, correlation analysis and hydrogeochemical methods to investigate the hydrochemical status and evolution of lakes in the Badain Jaran Desert. The results showed that the lake water in Badain Jaran Desert is generally alkaline, with the average pH and TDS were 9.31 and 165.12 g L⁻¹, respectively. The main cations to be Na⁺ and K⁺, whereas the main anions are Cl⁻ and SO₄²⁻. HCO₃⁻ and CO₃²⁻ decreased and SO₄²⁻ and Cl⁻ increased from southeast to northwest, whereas lake hydrochemistry changed from the SO₄²⁻-Cl⁻-HCO₃⁻ type to the SO₄²⁻-Cl⁻ type and lakes transitioned from freshwater to saline. The freshwater and slightly brackish lakes are mainly distributed in the piedmont area at a high altitude near the Yabulai Moutains, whereas saline lakes are mainly distributed in the desert hinterland at a low altitude, and there is a roughly increasing trend of ions from the Yabulai Mountains. The evaporation-crystallization reactions are the dominant in the study region. Moreover, some saline mineral deposits, are extensive in these regions caused by intense evaporation-crystallization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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17 pages, 21014 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Soil Moisture and Salinity Inversion Based on New Remote Sensing Index and Neural Network at a Salina-Alkaline Wetland

by Jie Wang, Weikun Wang, Yuehong Hu, Songni Tian and Dongwei Liu

Water 2021, 13(19), 2762; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13192762 - 06 Oct 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2746

Abstract

In arid and semi-arid regions, soil moisture and salinity are important elements to control regional ecology and climate, vegetation growth and land function. Soil moisture and salt content are more important in arid wetlands. The Ebinur Lake wetland is an important part of the ecological barrier of Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China. The Ebinur Lake Basin is a representative area of the arid climate and ecological degradation in central Asia. It is of great significance to study the spatial distribution of soil moisture and salinity and its causes for land and wetland ecological restoration in the Ebinur Lake Basin. Based on the field measurement and Landsat 8 satellite data, a variety of remote sensing indexes related to soil moisture and salinity were tested and compared, and the prediction models of soil moisture and salinity were established, and the accuracy of the models was assessed. Among them, the salinity indexes D1 and D2 were the latest ones that we proposed according to the research area and data. The distribution maps of soil moisture and salinity in the Ebinur Lake Basin were retrieved from remote sensing data, and the correlation analysis between soil moisture and salinity was performed. Among several soil moisture and salinity prediction indexes, the normalized moisture index NDWI had the highest correlation with soil moisture, and the salinity index D2 had the highest correlation with soil salinity, reaching 0.600 and 0.637, respectively. The accuracy of the BP neural network model for estimating soil salinity was higher than the one of other models; R² = 0.624, RMSE = 0.083 S/m. The effect of the cubic function prediction model for estimating soil moisture was also higher than that of the BP neural network, support vector machine and other models; R² = 0.538, RMSE = 0.230. The regularity of soil moisture and salinity changes seemed to be consistent, the correlation degree was 0.817, and the synchronous change degree was higher. The soil salinity in the Ebinur Lake Basin was generally low in the surrounding area, high in the middle area, high in the lake area and low in the vegetation coverage area. The soil moisture in the Ebinur Lake Basin slightly decreased outward with the Ebinur Lake as the center and was higher in the west and lower in the east. However, the spatial distribution of soil moisture had a higher mutation rate and stronger heterogeneity than that of soil salinity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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15 pages, 2277 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Spatial Heterogeneity and Driving Factors of Soil Moisture in Alpine Desert Using the Geographical Detector Method

by Zhiwei Zhang, Huiyan Yin, Ying Zhao, Shaoping Wang, Jiahua Han, Bo Yu and Jie Xue

Water 2021, 13(19), 2652; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13192652 - 26 Sep 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1873

Abstract

Soil moisture is a vital factor affecting the hydrological cycle and the evolution of soil and geomorphology, determining the formation and development of the vegetation ecosystem. The previous studies mainly focused on the effects of different land use patterns and vegetation types on soil hydrological changes worldwide. However, the spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil gravimetric water content in alpine regions are seldom studied. On the basis of soil sample collection, combined with geostatistical analysis and the geographical detector method, this study examines the spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil gravimetric water content in the typical alpine valley desert of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Results show that the average value of soil gravimetric water content at different depths ranges from 3.68% to 7.84%. The optimal theoretical models of soil gravimetric water content in 0–50 cm layers of the dune are different. The nugget coefficient shows that the soil gravimetric water content in the dune has a strong spatial correlation at different depths, and the range of the optimal theoretical model of semi-variance function is 31.23–63.38 m, which is much larger than the 15 m spacing used for sampling. The ranking of the influence of each evaluation factor on the alpine dune is elevation > slope > location > vegetation > aspect. The interaction detection of factors indicates that an interaction exists among evaluation factors, and no factors are independent of one another. In each soil layer of 0–50 cm, the interaction among evaluation factors has a two-factor enhancement and a nonlinear enhancement effect on soil gravimetric water content. This study contributes to the understanding of spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil moisture in alpine deserts, and guidance of artificial vegetation restoration and soil structure analysis of different desert types in alpine cold desert regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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12 pages, 2386 KiB

Open AccessOpinion

An Artificial Oasis in a Deadly Desert: Practices and Enlightenments

by Ying Zhao, Jie Xue, Nan Wu and Robert Lee Hill

Water 2022, 14(14), 2237; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14142237 - 16 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2362

Abstract

Building highway and its biological protection system in a drought-affected shifting-sand desert is a great challenge. This challenge was completed by the construction of the Taklimakan Desert Highway Shelterbelt (TDHS)—the longest of its kind in the world (436 km). The TDHS can serve as a model for highway construction and desertification control using eco-friendly and cost-effective approaches in other desert regions. Notably, we proved that local saline groundwater irrigation offers potential advantages and opportunities for the growth of halophytes and sandy soil development in hyper-arid desert environments. Here, we systematically (1) summarize the project, its results, and vital technical issues of saline water irrigation; (2) address soil hydrological processes that play a crucial role in maintaining those systems; and (3) highlight useful insights for soil development, plant survival, and soil–plant–water–biota synergy mechanisms. Indeed, the TDHS project has provided a proof of concept for restoration and desert greening initiatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Hydrological Processes in Desert Regions)

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