| Summary: | The addition of soft rock to aeolian sandy soil can improve the level of fertility and ability of the soil to sequester carbon, which is of substantial significance to improve the ecological environment of the Mu Us sandy land and supplement newly added cultivated land. S oft rock and sand were combined using the ratio (v/v) of 0:1 (CK), 1:5 (S1), 1:2 (S2), and 1:1 (S3). The process of mineralization of organic carbon at different depths (0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, and 20–30 cm) in the combined soil was studied by 58 days of incubation indoors at a constant temperature. The content of soil nutrient s increased significantly under the S2 and S3 treatments and was higher in the 0–10 cm soil depth. The mineralization of rate of soil organic carbon (SOC) of different combination ratios can be divided into three time periods: the stress mineralization stage (1–7 d), the rapid mineralization stage (7–9 d) and the slow mineralization stage (9–58 d). At the end of incubation, the rates of mineralization of SOC and accumulated mineralization amount (Ct) were relatively large in the 0–10 cm soil depth, followed by the 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm soil layers , indicating that the stability of SOC in the surface layer was poor, which is not conducive to the storage of carbon. The content of potentially mineralizable organic carbon (C0) in the soil was consistent with the trend of change of Ct. Compared with the CK treatment, the cumulative organic carbon mineralization rate (Cr) of the S2 and S3 treatment s decreased by 7.77% and 6.05%, respectively; and the C0/SOC decreased by 22.84% and 15.55%, respectively. Moreover, the Cr and C0/SOC values in the 10–20 cm soil depth were small, which indirectly promoted the storage of organic carbon. With the process of SOC mineralization, the contents of soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) tended to decrease compared with the initial contents, with larger amplitudes in the 20–30 cm and 10–20 cm soil depth s, respectively. SOC, total nitrogen, available potassium, SMBC and DOC were all closely related to the process of mineralization of organic carbon. Therefore, the accumulation of soil carbon could be enhanced when the proportion of soft rock and sand composite soil was between 1:2 and 1:1, and the 10–20 cm soil depth was relatively stable. These results provide a theoretical basis for the improvement of desertified land.
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