Changes in soil organic carbon and its influencing factors in the growth of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantation in Horqin Sandy Land, Northeast China

The change of soil organic carbon and its influencing factors after afforestation in sandy land should be taken into account. Here, the factors would be revealed which would influence the SOC dynamics to a depth of 100 cm during the development of Mongolian pine plantations in Horqin sandy land, northeast China. The chronosequence method was used to quantify the change of SOC in vertical distribution and influencing factors following conversion grassland to Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica forest in semi-arid sandy land, northeast China. Then the traditional statistical approaches were used to assessed the influence of the identified factors. Stand age played a major role in SOC dynamics. It took 38 years for SOC in 0–10 cm layer to recover to its initial level after afforestation, and 46 years for 10–20 cm layer. SOC accumulation increased with the age of Mongolian pine plantation. Over-mature forest fully embodied the advantage of SOC accumulation. In addition, the changes of SOC in 0–10 cm layer were also affected by TN, TP, TK and soil moisture, and those below 10 cm soil layers were related to the effects of TN, TP, TK, BD and CS.