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Australian Journal of Soil Research, 2009, 47, 486497

Multivariate and geostatistical analysis of wetland soil salinity in nested areas of the Yellow River Delta
M. Yang A, S. L. Liu A,C, Z. F. Yang A, T. Sun A, and Robert Beazley B
A

School of Environment, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. B Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Fernow Hall 302, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. C Corresponding author. Email: shiliangliu@bnu.edu.cn

Abstract. This study investigated scale dependency of certain soil salinity ions in topsoil horizons in the Yellow River Delta in north-east Shandong province, China. Factorial kriging analysis (FKA) was used to analyse spatial variability of soil salinity ions (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl, SO42) sampled at 3 nested areas over a geologically contrasting region. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed on the logarithmic variables, then multivariate geostatistics was used to investigate scale dependency of soil salinity spatial variability and auto- and cross-variograms exhibited by 3 spatial structures: nugget effect, short-range, and long-range structures. Statistical analysis showed that NaCl was the main salinity type over the 3 nested sample areas. In addition, the variables were random and regional, which implied that a linear model of coregionalisation was feasible for the analysis of their spatial variability. The coefcients of the coregionalisation matrix showed that the short-range structures of auto- and cross-correlation for soil salinity were dominant at the large and middle-sized sample areas, while the long-range structure dominated at the small area. The resulting structural correlation coefcients showed strong correlations between variables changing as a function of spatial scale. These relationships between soil salinity variables at different spatial structures were not acquired by the linear correlation coefcients. PCA was then performed on the coregionalisation matrices at each sample area to summarise the relationships among variables at different spatial structures. From the synthetic analysis of coregionalisation matrices, correlation matrices, and principal components, we concluded that soil genesis and parent material may act on short-range variation of soil salinity, while climate and topography may inuence long-range structure at the large sample area. At the middle-sized sample area, variations were mostly affected by mineral fertilisation at the short-range structure, while human activities such as irrigation and drainage in wetland restorations inuenced the soil salinity spatial variability at the long-range scale. Vegetation and groundwater table may also be important factors inuencing the spatial variability of soil salinity at different spatial structures at the small sample areas. Additional keywords: spatial variability, salinity, factory kriging, PCA, coregionalisation.

Introduction Spatial variability of soil properties results from complex interactions between natural processes and management practices at different spatial and temporal scales (Castrignan et al. 2000b; Lin et al. 2002). Soil-forming factors, such as parent materials, biota, climate, and topography (Jenny 1941), explain most of the general characteristic variability; however, management practices may also affect soil variability signicantly (Marx et al. 1988; Dobermann 1994; Bocchi et al. 2000; Mohawesh et al. 2008). Some of the several possible factors that govern soil variability are likely to have a short-range action, whereas others operate at longer distances. As a consequence, soil variables are expected to be correlated in a way that is scale-dependent (Castrignan et al. 2000a). Despite the amount of literature published in the past 3 decades, knowledge about soil variability is still dispersed
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and requires further synthesis (Heuvelink and Webster 2001; Lin et al. 2005). In particular, there is a need to quantify soil variability across multiple scales, which will enhance the use of soil information in diverse applications. To determine scale dependency, factorial kriging analysis (FKA) developed by Matheron (1982) was previously used in soil science (Goovaerts 1992). FKA is a variant of kriging that aims to estimate and map different sources of spatial variability determined from the experimental variograms (Goovaerts 1992, 1998). This multivariate geostatistical technique allows description of the spatial relationships, as well as separating the sources of variation according to the spatial scales at which they operate (Imrie et al. 2008). Previously, FKA has been successfully applied in various elds including remote sensing (Oliver et al. 2000; van Meirvenne and Goovaerts 2002; Rodgers and Oliver 2007;
10.1071/SR08211 0004-9573/09/050486

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Tarnavsky et al. 2008), hydrogeology (Wang et al. 2001; Lin et al. 2004, 2006; Ryu et al. 2006), ecology (Castrignan et al. 2000b; Hernndez et al. 2007), and landscape (Bishop and Lark 2006). Within the eld of soil science, it has been used to assess variation in soil properties for crop management (Dobermann et al. 1995; Bocchi et al. 2000; Casa and Castrignan 2008), geochemical exploration (Jimnez-Espinosa and Chica-Olmo 1999; Batista et al. 2001; Reis et al. 2004), pollution (Einax and Soldt 1998; Lin et al. 2002; Rodrguez et al. 2008), and analyses of underlying geochemical processes (Bourennane et al. 2003; Xu and Tao 2004). Considerable work has been done to investigate variability of soil basic properties (Brdossy and Lehmann 1998; Qiu et al. 2001) and soil pollutants (Li et al. 2006; Tavares et al. 2008), particularly heavy metals (Reis et al. 2003; Xu and Tao 2004). However, quantication of soil salinity variability at multiple scales is often desirable, especially in wetlands where salinity accumulates in great amount and threatens plants and animals. Accumulation of soluble salts in soils has caused serious problems in relation to agricultural development and natural resources management. As soils become more saline, soil moisture becomes less available to plants, until at higher salinities water is drawn from the roots back into the soil (Brady and Weil 2002). The classic conditions that promote increasing soil salinity are drier climates, where irrigation is irregular and evapotranspiration allows salts to become concentrated in the upper part of the soil prole. However, low-lying coasts, such as deltas where surface drainage is poor and ooding during extremely high tides or storms is common, can also foster conditions for high levels of soil salinity (Fang et al. 2005). Salinities of 0.7 dS/m are less stressful to most plants. Above this threshold, salt toxicity occurs, with different plants becoming susceptible to perceptible salt stress at salinities as low as 0.8 dS/m. The Yellow River Delta, the only large delta in China to undergo extensive development, is characterised by extensive coverage of saline soils (Liu and Drost 1997). A high proportion of these occur in the most actively prograding areas in conjunction with recently formed estuarine wetlands. Despite plans of the Chinese central government to enlarge the agricultural production base in the Yellow River Delta, a lack of information on the salinisation potential of regional soils remains an impediment to developing a balanced and ecologically sound plan to achieve this goal. The main objective of this work was to study the spatial variability of soil salinity over 3 nested areas in the Yellow River Delta and seek possible explanations for their distributions in the light of the statistical evidence. Here, the soil salinity was characterised by calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), sodium (Na+), magnesium (Mg2+), chloride (Cl), and sulfate (SO42) ions. Each ion had its own distinctive distribution and it was difcult to discern common patterns and to seek common causes for them. Therefore, we deemed that an analysis of coregionalisation would be more revealing than a univariate geostatistical analysis. We examined the scale-dependent correlation structure of some soil properties, proposing that it can reect the different sources of variability. Information about soil variability is important in ecological modelling, environmental prediction, precision agriculture, and natural

resources management (Lin et al. 2005). Consequently, study on soil salinity variability in the Yellow River Delta can provide important scientic data for natural resources management and wetland restorations. Materials and methods The study area The study area is located at 1188070 1198100 E and 378200 388120 N in northern Shandong Province, China (Fig. 1). It encompasses an area >6000 km2, from Ninghai, extending north-east to the Taoerhe River estuary, south-east to the Xiaoqinghe River estuary, and eastward forming a fan shape. This region lies within the newly created wetlands of the Yellow River Delta, which extends from the mouth of Yellow River to the Bohai Sea. The current course of Yellow River was formed articially in 1976 by changing the old course from the Diaokou River to the Qingshui Gully. The soils in the delta formed on marine sediments as a result of deposition of a large amount of sand and mud transported by the Yellow River, together with lateral sea seepage. The Yellow River Delta is characterised by extensive coverage of saline soils, a high proportion of which occurs in the most actively prograding areas in conjunction with recently formed estuarine wetlands. The area has a monsoon climate of the warm-temperate zone. The average annual temperature is 11.712.68C. The average annual precipitation is 530630 mm, of which 70% is rainfall during summer (MayJuly), and the ratio of evaporation to precipitation is 3.22 on annual average. The groundwater table in the delta is high, in general ranging from 1.6 to 2.4 m and the mineralisation degree is 32.4 g/L on average. Soil samples and analytical methods Our analysis is based on 118 samples collected in October and November 2007. Soil samples were taken at 3 nested areas: (1) the large area of the whole Yellow River Delta, (2) the middle area of The Dawenliu Nature Reserve, and (3) the small area of the core of The Dawenliui Nature Reserve (Fig. 1). Collected soil samples were air-dried and crushed to pass through a 2-mm mesh. Fifty-g subsamples were ground in a mortar to pass through a 0.25-mm sieve. Samples were subsequently transported to the laboratory for determination of soil salt content, including Ca2+, K+, Na+, Mg2+, Cl, and SO42. Na+ and K+ which were determined by frame photometry, and Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl, and SO42 by ion chromatography. Multivariate geostatistical analysis The theory underpinning factorial kriging analysis (FKA) has been published in several texts (Goovaerts 1997; Wackernagel 1998; Pardo-Igzquiza and Dowd 2002). A brief outline is provided below. The rst step involves the denition of a linear model of coregionalisation (LMC). Geostatistical techniques rely on variograms, which are convenient representations of the auto- and cross-correlation structures in a spatially distributed dataset. Spatial scales of variation in our context are related to different ranges observed in the experimental semi-variogram. An experimental variogram is calculated as follows:

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The Yellow River Delta

Yellow River Yangtze River

500 1000

2000 km

Legend
Large scope Middle scope Small scope The delta 0 5 10 20 km

Legend
Small scope Core area 0 15 30 60 m

Fig. 1. Location of the Yellow River Delta and samples at 3 nested areas.

gh

1 X zxi zxi h2 2N h i 1
N h

structure (Pardo-Igzquiza and Dowd 2002). Such a covariogram is a linear combination of Ns component functions gu(h): g ab h
Ns X u1

where N is the number of data pairs approximately separated by the vector h, and z(xi) is the value of the regionalised variable z of interest at location xi. Cross-variograms between 2 variables za and zb may be calculated as follows: 1 X za xi za xi h zb xi zb xi h 2N h i 1 2 Valid models which are commonly tted to the experimental variograms include spherical, Gaussian, and exponential functions. These are characterised by a sill, which represents the covariance accounted for by the model, and a range, which signies the extent of spatial correlation. The value of the variograms where the model approaches the abscissa is referred to as the nugget effect. This encompasses the microscale variation and any errors due to analytical, sampling, or location measurements (Imrie et al. 2008). The experimental semi-variograms and semi-crossvariograms are modelled with nested structures, with each structure representing a particular scale of variation, e.g. a nugget effect, a short-range structure, and a long-range
N h

g u h ab

Ns X u1

bu g u h ab

where the buab are coefcients which represent the importance of each spatial scale u on the relationships between the variables. This LMC can be expressed in matrix terms: Gh
Ns X u1

g ab h

Bu gu h

where G(h) is the p p variogram matrix and Bu is a positive u semi-denite matrix of the coefcients bab . A measure of the correlation between the variables za and zb at the spatial scale u is given by: bu ab ru q ab u baa bu bb 5

u The structural correlation coefcients rab differ from the traditional product-moment correlation coefcients in that they focus on specic spatial scales, ltering out the processes operating over different distances (Castrignan et al. 2000b).

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Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the original variables at the 3 nested areas Area: Na K+ Mg2+ Ca2+ Cl SO42
+

Large 96 0.13 0.38 37 32 1.25

Minimum Middle Small 64 1 36 28 36 2.85 32 0.94 61 78 14 3.65

Large 6453 139 16 3251 450 62.38

Maximum Middle Small 2247 7.33 650 553 3843 92 767 8.49 346 341 1583 60

Large 1821 6.66 2.91 529 156 14.3

Mean Middle 869 2.10 215 158 1083 21.7

Small 130 3.97 144 215 121 38

Large 1651 26 4.59 718 107 14.2

s.d. Middle 679 1.54 134 120 1056 20.8

Small 137 1.98 64 59 261 11.75

Large area
Na Na K Ca
+ + +

Middle area
Cl

Small area

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

2+

Mg Cl SO4

Fig. 2. Correlation matrices of original variables at the 3 sample areas. ///, P < 0.05; \\\, P < 0.01; blank, no signicant correlation.

Principal component analysis (PCA) can be performed on the B matrices, in order to aid the identication of the major processes operating at the spatial scales identied. The interpretation of the resulting factors is based on their correlation with the original variables.
u

Results and discussion Summary statistics Table 1 summarises the statistics of all measured data. The distribution of the soil salinity ions at different sample areas was acquired by geostatistical module in ArcGIS software. The distributions of the original variables at the 3 areas were asymmetric, only Na+ at the middle area and K+ and Ca2+ ions at the small area had skewness coefcient <1.0. However, when the variables were transformed to their logarithms, the skewness and kurtosis coefcients decreased except for Cl at the middle area as well as Ca2+ and SO42 at the small area. Consequently in the following analyses, we made a logarithm transformation for the variables, so that the distributions were normal. The variables were generally linearly correlated; Fig. 2 was the correlation matrix, listing the ordinary productmoment correlationships. At the large area, Na+ was negatively correlated with all the other salinity cations, correlating with Ca2+, K+, and Mg2+ at P < 0.01 because of its high levels in most of the soils in the Yellow River Delta. It was positively correlated with Cl at P < 0.05 and weakly and positively with SO42. There were strong and positive correlations between Ca2+, K+, and Mg2+. At the middle area, Na+ was strongly and positively correlated with Ca2+, K+, and SO42, and negatively with Cl, but weakly and positively with Mg2+. K+ was negatively

correlated with Mg2+ and Cl at P < 0.01, while Ca2+ was strongly and positively with Mg2+, but weakly and negatively with Cl. For the salinity anions, there was a signicant correlation between Cl and SO42. At the small area, Na+ was negatively correlated with K+ and SO42 and positively with Cl at P < 0.01. Mg2+ was signicantly interrelated with Ca2+. Cl was strongly and negatively correlated with K+ and SO42. All other variables showed no signicant correlations, such as Na+ with Mg2+ and Ca2+, K+ with Mg2+, Ca2+ and SO42, Mg2+ with Cl and SO42, and Ca2+ with Cl and SO42.
Table 2. Eigenvalues of correlation matrix of the variables at the 3 nested areas Area Large Middle Small Order 1 2 1 2 1 2 Eigenvalues 2.99 1.16 2.95 1.49 2.71 1.69 Percentage 49.8 19.3 49.1 24.8 45.2 28.2 Accumulated percentage 49.8 69.2 49.1 73.9 45.2 73.5

Table 3. Correlations between the original variables and the rst 2 principal components Area Large Middle Small Component 1 2 1 2 1 2 Na+ 0.879 0.095 0.949 0.055 0.933 0.241 K+ Mg2+ Ca2+ Cl SO42 0.556 0.355 0.715 0.152 0.753 0.304

0.119 0.655 0.758 0.944 0.805 0.300 0.490 0.214 0.675 0.174 0.503 0.891 0.292 0.903 0.745 0.087 0.641 0.114 0.075 0.920 0.166 0.889 0.849 0.069

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Extracting the latent roots and vectors from the correlation matrices may reveal the relations among the variables more clearly. The rst 2 eigenvalues are listed in Table 2. At the large and middle areas, the rst accounted for ~50% of the variance, and the second for 19.32% and 24.82%, respectively. However, the rst accounted for 45.23% and the second for 28.22% at the small sample area. All the eigenvalues obtained at the 3 areas conrmed the results of the above correlation analyses that the correlations between the variables are complicated and dispersive. The correlation coefcients between the variables and principal components are reported in Table 3. The variable Na+ and Cl, which determined the salinealkaline types of the soils, appeared closely related, positively loading on the rst principal component at the large area, whereas K+ was strongly correlated with the second principal component. This seemed to suggest that soil salinisation was formed on marine sediments due to lateral sea seepage in the prograding process of the Yellow River Delta (Weng and Gong 2006). Geological process and monsoon climate may also be important factors.
Large sample scope

The same principal components were present at the middle and small areas. Na+ and Cl were positively associated with the rst principal component and also showed a strong link with SO42, Mg2+, and Ca2+, which were the second principal components compared to the large area. This may be attributed to some other processes superimposing on soil salinity characteristics. In this context, Na+ and Cl were strongly correlated, positively loading on the rst principal component, which
Table 4. Coefcients of double-spherical model tted to the principal components Area Large Middle Small Component Nugget Factor1 Factor2 Factor1 Factor2 Factor1 Factor2 0.216 0 1.38 0.39 0.784 0.238 Sill1 0.954 0.686 1.5 1.005 1.512 1.377 Sill2 0.774 0.259 0.39 0.525 0.532 0.544 Range1 (m) Range2 (m) 2120 2120 1080 1080 45 45 4080 4080 2050 2050 105 105

2.7 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.3 0 0

1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

Middle sample scope

3.2 2.8 2.4 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.3 0 0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 2700

(|h|)

2.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4 0

Small sample scope

3.2 2.8 2.4 2.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

2.4 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.3 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

lhl (m)
Fig. 3. Spherical auto-variograms of the principal components plotted as points. Solid lines are those of the tted models of linear coregionalisation.

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suggested that NaCl may be the main salinity type in the Yellow River Delta, but there were different variables related with the second principal component, K+ at the large area and Mg2+ and Ca2+ at the middle and small area. This showed different salinity characteristics formed from many different processes, such as mineral fertilisation, geological genesis, climate, vegetation, lateral seepage, channel change, groundwater tables, and human activities. Spatial analysis and coregionalisation Classical statistical analysis cannot separate the different sources of spatial variability affecting soil salinity at the site surveyed. This required a particular statistical approach that combines classical factor analysis for describing the correlation structure of a multivariate dataset with geostatistics, to take into account the regionalised nature of the variables. Consequently coregionalisation analysis was performed (Castrignan et al. 2000b).

Coregionalisation analysis Before attempting to t a linear model of coregionalisation, we calculated the experimental auto- and cross-variograms of the 6 salinity ions based on the correlation matrices and the PCA aforementioned. We calculated the scores of the principal components at each sample area, and then calculated the variograms of the rst 2 principal components of the variables. The 6 graphs of the rst 2 principal components at the 3 nested areas displayed a steady increase in semi-variance with increasing lag distance to ~2120 m at the large sample area, 1080 m at the middle sample area, and 45 m at the small sample area. Then it reached a maximum more slowly at >4080, 2050, and 105 m, respectively. To represent the whole variograms with both short- and long-range structures of each factor we tted a double-spherical model with a nugget (except for the factor 2 at the large sample area). The values of the coefcients are given in Table 4. The solid lines in Fig. 3 represents these tted models.

0.016 0.014 0.012 0.010 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0 0

Na+

0.0036 0.0032 0.0028 0.0024 0.0020 0.0016 0.0012 0.0008 0.0004 0

K+

700 1400 2100 2800 3500 4200 4900 5600 6300

700 1400 2100 2800 3500 4200 4900 5600 6300

Mg 2 +
0.018 0.016 0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.000 0 0 700 1400 2100 2800 3500 4200 4900 5600 6300 0 0.014 0.012 0.010 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0

Ca2+

(|h|)

700

1400 2100 2800 3500 4200 4900 5600 6300

Cl
0.16 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 0 700 1400 2100 2800 3500 4200 4900 5600 6300

0.45 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0 0

SO 42

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

|h| (m)
Fig. 4. Spherical auto-variograms of the soil standardised variables plotted as points at the large scale. Solid lines are those of the tted models of linear coregionalisation.

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Although each soil attribute has its own more-or-less distinctive distribution, there are some similarities. Therefore, an analysis of coregionalisation would be more revealing with common spatial patterns and aid in seeking common causes for them at different spatial structures (Castrignan et al. 2000b). Figure 4 shows the linear models of coregionalisation as it tted the 6 direct auto-variograms superimposed on the coefcients at the large sample area (Table 5; auto-variogram at the middle and small area and cross-variograms are not reported). They show that the short-range structure of autocorrelation was dominant in almost all the variables at the 3 areas. The short-range structure dominated the crossvariograms between Na+ and K+ (negative), Na+ and Cl (positive), K+ and Mg2+ (positive), Mg2+ and SO42 (negative), and Ca2+ and SO42 (positive) at the large area; Na+ and SO42 (negative), K+ and Mg2+ (negative), K+ and Ca2+ (positive), and Cl and SO42 (negative) at the middle area; and Na+ and Cl (positive), K+ and Cl (positive), and Ca2+ and SO42 (negative) at the small area. However, the long-range structure dominated mainly that of Na+ and K+ (negative) at the middle sample area, and Na+ and Mg2+ (negative), Na+ and Ca2+ (negative), Na+ and SO42 (negative), K+ and Mg2+ (positive), Mg2+ and Ca2+ (negative), and Mg2+ and SO42 (negative) at the small area.

By synthetic analyses, we found that there were different spatial structures for the cross-varigrams between different soil variables. The short-range structure dominated at the large sample area, long-range structure at the small sample area, and at the middle sample area, the dominant spatial structures were between the short-range and long-range structures by different auto- and cross-variograms. Previous studies mostly examining only one study area showed that the main spatial structure was different; some exhibited long-range structure (Bourennane et al. 2003), and some showed short-range structure (Imrie et al. 2008). The importance of each structure reected the inuence of the corresponding spatial variable or pair of variables on soil variation. However, the whole set of multivariate spatial relations can be better represented by their nugget and structural correlation coefcients, which allows focusing on a specic spatial structure, ltering the effects of the other structures of variation. This difference showed that sampling interval and area may inuence spatial variability of soil salinity to a certain extent, and the right amount of samples was important for exact analysis of spatial variability and its sources at different spatial structures (Pye et al. 2006). Structural correlation coefcients In this case study, the simple productmoment correlation coefcients did not reveal the real relationships among the

Table 5. Coefcients of double spherical coregionlisation models for variograms Area Large Structure Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Nugget Sill1 Sill2 Na+ 0.0006 0.08 0.0034 0.018 0.12 0.075 0.0234 0.0459 0.0261 Na+K+ Large 0 0.003 0.0011 0.016 0.048 0.054 0.0024 0.0426 0.0168 K+Cl Large 0 0.0065 0.0025 0.0486 0.0414 0.0162 0 0.0183 0.0066 K+ 0.00016 0.00174 0.00082 0.0252 0.133 0.0273 0.0198 0.0282 0.0048 Na+Mg2+ 0 0.0039 0.0034 0 0.02 0.0134 0 0.0114 0.0118 K+SO42 0 0.0067 0.0042 0.012 0.0358 0.014 0 0.0108 0.0054 Mg2+ 0.00153 0.0085 0.00423 0.0008 0.0736 0.0192 0.0096 0.0189 0.0054 Na+Ca2+ 0 0.004 0.0029 0 0.0639 0.036 0 0.0072 0.0086 Mg2+Ca2+ 0.00215 0.0035 0.0013 0.009 0.0378 0.0114 0.0016 0.005 0.0056 Ca2+ 0.00144 0.00258 0.00198 0 0.09 0.034 0.0098 0.0096 0.0018 Na+Cl 0 0.011 0.0053 0.09 0.068 0.044 0.026 0.066 0.016 Mg2+Cl 0.00052 0.007 0.004 0 0.0255 0.0138 0.0036 0.0102 0.0026 Cl 0 0.0756 0.0585 0.06 0.26 0.092 0.05 0.06 0.044 Na+SO42 0 0.0282 0.0102 0.028 0.084 0.012 0 0.01 0.02 Mg2+SO42 0.018 0.164 0.0735 0 0.0148 0.0058 0.0016 0.005 0.0056 SO42 0 0.284 0.064 0.02 0.144 0.022 0.0035 0.029 0.012 K+Mg2+ 0 0.0028 0.0009 0.0054 0.0166 0.0068 0 0.0033 0.004 Ca2+Cl 0 0.0095 0.0074 0 0.064 0.02 0 0.0069 0.0035 K+Ca2+ 0.0005 0.0019 0.0015 0 0.0135 0.0081 0.004 0.0544 0.02 Ca2+SO42 0.012 0.123 0.006 0.0084 0.0438 0.012 0 0.005 0.0015 ClSO42 0 0.009 0.006 0.028 0.146 0.062 0.0084 0.0312 0.0126

Middle

Small

Middle

Small

Middle

Small

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variables, since it averaged out distinct changes in the correlation structures occurring at different spatial scales. Pooling all the spatial structures, the only signicant correlations between the variables were observed for the pairs of Na+ and K+, Cl, SO42 at each sample area (Fig. 2). In contrast, ltering the different components disclosed interesting correlations between the variables, changing as a function of spatial scales (Castrignan et al. 2000b). At the large sample area, in the shortest spatial structure (nugget effect), the most relevant correlation appeared between Ca2+ and Mg2+ (negative), and to a less extent between Cl and SO42 (positive). As the nugget effect always comprised an unknown variance caused by procedural errors, we chose to direct our attention to correlation structures at short- and longrange scales. At plot-size level, Ca2+ and Mg2+ revealed strong correlations, whereas at longer spatial structure, high correlations were between Na+ and K+, as well as Na+ and Mg2+. Cl appeared correlated, but to a lesser extent, with Ca2+ (Fig. 5a).

At the middle sample area, the correlation structures looked somewhat different, and the short-range structure showed SO42 was strongly correlated with Cl, and slightly with Na+ and Ca2+. However, strong correlations were shown between Na+ and K+ at P < 0.01, and Cl and Ca2+ as well as Ca2+ and Na+ at P < 0.05 (Fig. 5b). At the small sample area, the strong correlations between Na+ and Cl and Cl and SO42 showed at the 3 spatial scales, while there were also strong correlations between K+ and Na+, Cl, SO42, and between Mg2+ and Ca2+, at the short- and longrange spatial structures (Fig. 5c). From the analyses at 3 sample areas, there were strong correlations between Na+ and Cl, K+ at the large and small areas, Cl and Ca2+ at the large and middle area, as well as between other variables. In fact, there were some correlations between the soil base-exchange ions which could be found in vegetation ecology (Guo and Tang 1999; Li et al. 2002). Therefore, from the estimation of the structural correlation coefcients, we were able to summarise the causes of the

(a) Large sample area

Na Na K Ca
+ + +

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

2+

Mg Cl SO4

(b) Middle sample area

Na Na K Ca
+ + +

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

2+

Mg Cl SO4

(c) Small sample area

Na Na K Ca
+ + +

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

Na

Mg

2+

Ca

2+

Cl

SO4

2+

Mg Cl SO4

Nugget effect

Short-range

Long-range

Fig. 5. Correlation matrices for each spatial structure at the 3 areas.

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variability of soil salinity at each spatial structure at the 3 nested sample areas. At the large sample area, plot-size spatial variation was mostly affected by environmental factors such as climate and topography, which controlled soil genesis on the whole (Bruelheide and Udelhoven 2005). At the long-range scale, the monsoon climate, characterised by high evaporation discharge and relatively low precipitation, and rolling topography imposing on the vertical and lateral ow, may have played some role in the spatial structure of soil salinity. At short-range structure, spatial variation was likely dominated by parent material (river alluvium and marine sediments in the bottom) being inuenced by tides and the Yellow River.

At the middle sample area, spatial variability at short-range structure was mostly inuenced by mineral fertilisation, which carried a lot of soluble salts accumulating in the soil and consisting principally in various proportions of sodium and calcium cations, as well as chloride and sulfate anions (Wang et al. 2006). Long-range spatial variability was potentially affected by irrigation and draining in wetland restoration processes, which inuenced the salinisation and leaching of cations in soils (Shan 2007). Based on the analyses above, at the small sample area, plotsize spatial variation was mostly caused by the distribution of vegetation, especially by halo-tolerant plants, which inuenced soil salinity by secreting or absorbing salts in soils, and alleviated salinity stress (Song et al. 2003). Additionally

Large sample area

Ca2+

35.2% Cl SO42 37.8% Na+ K

+

Cl

27.7% Na+

35.3%

Cl

Mg 2+

Mg 2+ 54.2% SO 42 Ca 2+ K+

Na + 58% SO42

K+ Mg 2+ Ca2+

Middle sample area

Ca 2+ 17.2 %

Ca2+ 24.3% Mg2+ Mg 2+ Cl Na+ K+

13.4% Ca2+ K+ 74.3% SO42

Cl Na +

Mg 2+

SO42 63% K+

Na + Cl

SO42 67%

Small sample area

27.3% Mg 2+ Cl

25.5%

Cl Mg2+ Cl 72.3% K+ SO42 Na +

18.9% Ca 2+ Mg 2+

Ca+ Na+

51.1% SO42 K+

Ca 2+ Na +

75.3% K+ SO42

Nugget effect

Short-range

Long-range

Fig. 6. Correlation circles for the structural variation at the 3 scales.

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groundwater tables may be the cause of spatial variability at the long-range scale. Alluvial soils in the delta were subject to seepage or ooding during high tides and coastal storms, and their poor drainage from high groundwater tables allowed salts to accumulate due to inadequate leaching (Fang et al. 2005). Because the 3-sample area was nested, the spatial structure at the 3 areas had some overlaps. Regional factors analyses In order to summarise the relationships among the variables at different spatial structures, a PCA was performed on the regionalisation matrices for each sample area. The spatial interrelations among the variables, as described above by coregionalisation matrices for each sample area, could be clearly displayed in the circles of correlations corresponding to different spatial scales at each sample area (Saporta 1990) (Fig. 6), where the pair of coordinates of each variable was determined by the pair of correlation coefcients between the spatial component of the variables and the rst 2 regionalised factors. At the small area, the rst 2 factors explained ~78% of nugget variance: the rst one was highly correlated with Na+ and Ca2+ (negatively) and also with SO42 (positively), whereas the second was positively correlated with Mg2+ and Cl. This suggested that there were various salinity types at a very short range and basic salt is predominant, which is at variance with the results of Weng and Gong (2006), who thought that Na+ and Cl were signicantly correlated and the main salinity type was sodium chloride. However, at this spatial structure components also included procedural errors and hence one should interpret them with caution (Castrignan et al. 2000b). The rst 2 components of the short-range structure explained >97% of the overall variance at this spatial scale, where the Na+, Ca2+, and K+ are strongly correlated with the rst component, whereas Cl was weighing alone slightly over the second factor. At long-range structure, the components weighing over the rst 2 components were similar to that at the short-range structure, except for the exchange of Cl and Ca2+ loading on the rst 2 components. This seemed to suggest that salinity variation at the short-range structure can be characterised by calcareous ingredients (Xu 2003), and at the long-range structure by soluble ions. Proceeding to the larger sample area, no differences of importance are observed, except for the different performance of Ca2+ and Cl at the nugget and plot-size level and Mg2+ at the long-range structure. At the nugget and plot-size, Ca2+ and Cl had a reversed impact on the rst 2 components, which suggests that different processes may inuence spatial variability of Ca2+ and Cl in different sample scales, as for Mg2+. Some of these processes may include the inltration of sea water owing to the proximity of the study site to the shore, watering and draining in wetland restoration, the geological nature of the rock, the rise of the groundwater table to within few meters of soil surface, and the previous accumulation of salt (Shao et al. 2008). In extending our sample area great differences were observed. In the nugget variance, the rst is highly correlated with K+ and SO42, whereas the second is negatively correlated

with Mg2+ and positively with Ca2+. At short-range structure, Cl inuenced spatial variation independently from other variables on the rst component, and also, slightly, together with Na+. This may be attributed to several factors such as low groundwater tables caused by down-draught of sea water, and high evaporation. SO42 was highly correlated with the Mg2+ and Ca2+, which suggested that the parent material was likely alkaline (Wang et al. 2004). Cl was correlated with Ca2+, and weighed commonly over the rst components, whereas other variables controlled the second component. Conclusions The FKA described above enabled the factors underlying the variation in soil salinity to be examined at 3 different spatial scales at 3 nested sample areas. At the large area, sampled in the whole Yellow River Delta, spatial variability of soil salinity was affected by historic or intrinsic environment conditions, such as climate, geology, topography, soil genesis, and parent material, which acted on different spatial structures. Because there was an unknown variance caused by procedural errors at the scales shorter than the sampling density, we focused our attention on the short- and long-range structures. At the short-range structure, variations in parent material geology of the major structural divisions of the continent to sea were detected. At the long-range scale the inuence of monsoon climate and topography became apparent. At the middle sample area, variations were mostly affected by mineral fertilisation at the short-range structure, while human activities such as irrigation and drainage in wetland restorations inuenced the variations of soil salinity at the long-range scale. At the small sample area, an area of 200 m by 200 m, vegetation and groundwater table may inuence the spatial variability of soil salinity at the short and long structures. PCA showed that salinity types were slightly different at different spatial structures and signicantly at the 3 sample areas. Compared to our analysis using univariate geostatistics, which showed that NaCl was the main salinity type, analysis using multivariate geostatistics showed similar results, but exhibited more detailed information at different spatial structures. With this type of analysis it is possible to have better management of spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of wetland restoration for the purpose of improving soil properties and environmental quality. Multivariate geostatistical techniques such as factorial kriging analysis have facilitated the separation of the different sources of spatial variation at different scales. This method has proved very useful for several main reasons (Bocchi et al. 2000; Castrignan et al. 2000a) and is likely to be applicable to the future datasets that will emerge as part of the Global Geochemical Reference Network (Imrie et al. 2008). Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Key and Important Program for Basic Research of China (No. 2006CB403303) and the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 40871237; No. 40501067). The authors would like to thank instructor Liu R M for guiding in operation of multivariate geostatistical techniques.

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Manuscript received 22 September 2008, accepted 30 April 2009

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