Pedogenic Carbonate and Soil Dehydrogenase Activity in Response to Soil Organic Matter in Artemisia ordosica Community

Little attention has been paid to the role of soil organic matter (OM) in the formation of pedogenic carbonate in desert soils. The relationships among soil OM, soil dehydrogenase activity (DHA), and soil CaCO(3) in a plant community dominated by Artemisia ordosica, located on the eastern boundary of Tengger Desert in the Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China, were studied to understand whether OM was directly involved in the formation of pedogenic carbonate. The results showed that DHA and CaCO(3) positively correlated with OM content, and DHA, OM, and CaCO(3) were correlated with each other in their spatial distribution, indicating that abundant OM content contributed to the formation of CaCO(3). Therefore, the formation of pedogenic CaCO(3) was a biotic process in the plant community dominated by A. ordosica.