Abstract:

In order to understand any influence of water level fluctuating on the soil physical properties in hydro-fluctuation belt of the three gorges reservoir．fixed-location monitoring was made for two years．The results showed that after two years with the water level fluctuating,the bulk density increased by 0.7%-4.6% and total porosity,capillary porosity,non-capillary respectively decreased by 0.2%-7.5%，0.6%-4.0%，32%-60.8% and the maximum moisture capacity,capillary moisture capacity and field capacity respectively decreased by 0.6%-15.1%，0.7%-11.9%，0.3%-12.5%.The soil physical properties obviously varied,but the differences were not significant (P＞0.05).After the water level fluctuating for three years,the bulk density increased by 7%-17% in comparison with the non-submerged zones,the total porosity decreased by 18%-21%，the capillary porosity decreased by 11.3%-24.3%,the non-capillary porosity decreased by 35%-53%,the maximum moisture capacity decreased by 28%-31%,the capillary moisture capacity decreased by 26%-31%,and the field capacity decreased by 26%-32%．There were significant (P＜0．05) differences in the soil physical indicators between the non-submerged zones and the submerged zones in each soli layer．

Key words: hydro-fuctuation belt, soil physical properties, changes, three gorges reservoir