ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SNOW COVER MULCHES ON SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATIONS OF FARMLAND SOIL MOISTURE

We investigated the influence of snow cover on soil moisture in a seasonally frozen area in northern China. To do this, we performed afield test during one freeze-thaw cycle with four treatments of the test area: bare land, normal snow cover, compacted snow cover, and thick snow cover. Soil moisture depth, liquid moisture depth, frost depth, temperature, solar radiation, and other meteorological data were measured to obtain a comprehensive analysis. One-way ANOVA with Duncan's multiple ranges test was used to evaluate significant differences between soil moisture among all four treatments. The results demonstrated that the different snow cover treatments led to significantly different levels of soil moisture. Soil moisture accumulation area appeared obvious temporal and spatial distribution differences. However, snow cover effectively inhibited large magnitude temporal and spatial variations of the soil liquid moisture content. The feedback adjustment capability of the total soil moisture content showed that shallow profiles were more affected by different snow cover treatments than deep profiles. The compacted snow treatment was most effective for conserving soil moisture in shallow soil and improving the liquid moisture content of deep soil.