In which areas of our country is alpine meadow soil distributed? What is suitable for growing?

Alpine meadow soil refers to the soil developed under the meadow vegetation above the alpine forest canopy line, which was once called grass felt soil in China, and its main characteristics are as follows: the surface is layered or mound due to the action of frost cracking and soil slippage; the surface layer is intertwined by grass roots into a soft and tough grass layer. What is suitable for planting in alpine meadow soil? Let's first take a look at its distribution.

The alpine meadow soil in China is mainly distributed in the plateau and alpine areas in the east and southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as well as the Pamir Plateau, Altai Mountains, the mountains to the west of Junggar Basin, Tianshan Mountains, Qilian Mountains and other alpine areas in central Asia with an altitude of 3200 to 5200 meters above sea level. It often appears as a vertical zone in mountains such as Tianshan, while it has the characteristics of horizontal zonal distribution on the plateau. Such soils are also distributed in the high mountains of Europe, America and Oceania.

The topography and position of alpine meadow soil are mostly hillsides, gentle hills on the plateau, moraine platforms, wide valleys and basins, etc. The parent materials are mostly residual-alluvial deposits, alluvial deposits, moraine and glacial sediments. The climate of the place is characterized by cold, moderate humidity and long freezing period, with an annual average temperature of-6 ℃ and an annual precipitation of 400 mm to 700 mm. The vegetation belongs to alpine meadow, mainly Kobresia humilis and Kobresia humilis with dense clusters and short rhizomes, and often accompanied by a variety of Carex, Polygonum and miscellaneous grasses. The coverage is about 7090%, and shrubs often appear on the sunny slope near the upper limit of the forest line.

There is obvious accumulation of humus in alpine meadow soil. The humus layer is 8-20 cm thick and has a grayish brown to dark brown granular-flat core structure. The content of organic matter is 1020%, mainly fulvic acid, and the ratio of humic acid to fulvic acid (Hmax F) is 0.6-1.0. Soil composite colloid belongs to the type of high organic matter and low complex degree, which is dominated by loosely bound humus. The color of the humus layer fades rapidly downward. In the subalpine zone, the transition between soil layers is rapid and obvious, while in the alpine (true alpine) zone, it is not obvious, and a dark layer appears in the AB layer. Water-soluble salts and calcium carbonate have been leached out in the profile, and calcium carbonate has accumulated in the middle and lower part of the alpine meadow soil profile. Clay and trioxide do not change much in the profile, and the clay minerals are mainly hydromica with a small amount of kaolinite and sphene. The reaction is acidic to neutral. The thickness of the soil layer is only 40cm to 50cm, which has obvious thawing micro-morphological characteristics, and the bottom layer has seasonal frozen layer or permafrost.

Alpine meadow soil can be used as natural pasture. In some areas of the subalpine belt, it can be reclaimed into dry farmland after cold prevention and fertilizer and water management measures, which is suitable for planting cold-tolerant crops such as highland barley and rape.