Effects of soil organic matter components and iron aluminum oxides on aggregate stability during vegetation succession in granite red soil eroded areas

Soil aggregates determine the basic structure of soil, and their composition and stability are influenced by the various types of cementitious substances occurring in soil. To explore the main limiting factors of soil aggregation in the process of vegetation succession with granite as the parent material, five stages of vegetation succession in an eroded area were selected: bare land (BL), grassland (GL), grassland shrub transition land (GS), shrubland (SL) and secondary forest (SF). Soil samples were collected to determine the composition and stability of aggregates. The contents of organic and inorganic cementitious substances, including organic matter components and iron aluminum oxides, were determined at five soil aggregate grain levels. The results indicated that the stability of soil aggregates and the >0.25 mm water-stable aggregate content (WR0.25) increased with vegetation succession. Based on the Le Bissonnais (LB) method, the mean weight diameter (MWD) of soil aggregates increased, and the relative dissipation index (RSI) and relative mechanical crushing index (RMI) decreased. The humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) contents in soil aggregates increased with vegetation succession, and the soil humus content at the SF stage increased by more than 13.54% over the BL level. Upon different vegetation succession stage, the iron and aluminum oxides for the SL and the SF were at a high level, and the contents of free-form iron oxide (Fed) and amorphous iron oxide (Fe0) for BL were high. Correlation analysis indicated that the soil humic degree (PQ) and the contents of amorphous alumina (Al0) were positively correlated with aggregate stability to varying degrees. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that PQ values of 1–2 mm (PQ2) and 0.25–0.5 mm (PQ4) aggregates, the contents of Fe0 of bulk soil (Fe0B), >2 mm (Fe01), 1–2 mm (Fe02), and <0.25 mm (Fe05) aggregates, and the contents of Al0 of >2 mm (Al01) aggregates could explain 99.4% of the changes in soil aggregate stability at different vegetation succession stages. Al01 had a contribution rate of 71.2% and is the key factor for improving the stability of soil aggregates.