The process of soil desiccation under artificial shrub and grass in northern Loess Plateau．

Soil desiccation occurs frequently under artificial shrubs and grass. The formation of dried soil layer (DSL) affects small biological cycles, weakens big hydrological cycle and seriously affects vegetation construction and regional ecological stability.

To understand the process of formation and evolvement of dried soil layer (DSL) soil desiccation under artificial shrub and grasscaragana and alfalfa in loess plateau, and to determine the suitable planting years, caragana and alfalfa were selected as two typical shrub and grass, respectively to analyze the dynamics and of soil moisture and aboveground biomass  of the two plants with different growing years were analyzed.