Notice of RetractionSpatial variation of soil moisture on grassland on the semi-arid Loess Plateau

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

We hereby retract the content of this paper. Reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper.

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Soil moisture is one of the major limiting factors that determine vegetation restoration in the semi-arid Loess Plateau. A grassland of 8.3 ha. above the gully line of valleys, was selected as a sampling field to analyze the spatial variation of soil moisture. Soil moisture in topsoil (0-20cm) and subsoil (40-60cm) at 107 sampling points were measured using oven-drying methods in the end of dry season. The study revealed several findings: (1) Soil moisture in both topsoil and subsoil were significantly correlated with slope position and aspect but not with slope gradient. (2) Soil moisture had a moderate spatial autocorrelation within the range of 68.7 m in topsoil and a strong spatial autocorrelation within the range of 76.0 m in subsoil. Spatial distribution patterns of soil moisture in topsoil and subsoil were similar, though the topsoil was evidently drier than the subsoil.