Effects of wind farm on surface soil in desert steppe, China

Abstract

In recent years, the wind farm has developed rapidly in northern China. However, the construction and operation of wind farm directly or indirectly result in the change of soil structure, thus affecting the regional ecological environment. According to the characteristics of wind turbine engineering, the disturbance area of wind farm can be divided into the core disturbed zone, the secondary disturbed zone and the indirect disturbed zone. A field study was conducted to investigate the physical and chemical properties of surface soil in different disturbed zones. The results show that: (1) soil compaction, soil bulk density and soil salinity of the surface soil are sensitive to wind farm disturbance; compared with the undisturbed zone, there are still significant differences between the core disturbed zone and the secondary disturbed zone; (2) after nearly 10 years of natural recovery, apart from the phosphorus element, there are little differences of surface soil nutrients in different disturbed zones; (3) the impact of wind farm on surface soil will be gradually eliminated over time, but continuous and frequent disturbances caused by engineering maintenance during its operation should be avoided if possible.