Abstract:
In view of fragile soil environment degradation, soil structure destruction, and nutrient losses caused by the construction of the West-to-East Gas Pipeline (WEGP), this study selected the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang as the research area. Using the field sampling data, we investigated the spatial heterogeneity patterns of soil nutrients along the WEGP route, determined the disturbance scope and intensity on the adjacent soils, and utilized a robust geographical detector to analyze the influencing factors and their interactive effects on the content of soil nutrients (organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total potassium). The main conclusions are as follows: 1) Significant spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients was observed along the WEGP route. Except that of total potassium, the content of other soil nutrients exhibited an initial decrease followed by an increase within 0−30 m from the pipeline, indicating that the impact range of the WEGP construction was approximately 10 m. 2) The content of the four soil nutrients was significantly or highly significantly influenced by factors such as land cover type, slope gradient, and mean annual temperature. This suggests that high vegetation coverage and strong soil and water conservation capacity are conducive to soil nutrient recovery, and climatic conditions are key constraints on soil nutrient levels. 3) The spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients resulted from the coupled interactions of different environmental factors. Interaction detection revealed that the effect of any two factors on soil nutrients was not independent. Instead, they exhibited either bivariate enhancement or nonlinear enhancement interactions. This highlights the diversity and complexity of factors influencing the spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrient distribution. In summary, this research elucidates the spatial heterogeneity patterns and influencing factors of soil nutrients along the WEGP route, providing a scientific basis for ecological restoration efforts in related areas.