Evaluating the effect of land use changes on soil erosion and sediment yield using a grid-based distributed modelling approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 3579-3592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoqiang Wang ◽  
Hong Jiang ◽  
Zongxue Xu ◽  
Lijing Wang ◽  
Weifeng Yue
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Distributed Modelling ◽  
Grid Based ◽  
Modelling Approach

scholarly journals Analysis of the Impact of Land Use Changes on Soil Erosion Intensity and Sediment Yield Using the IntErO Model in the Talar Watershed of Iran

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 881
Author(s):  
Maziar Mohammadi ◽  
Abdulvahed Khaledi Darvishan ◽  
Velibor Spalevic ◽  
Branislav Dudic ◽  
Paolo Billi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Maximum Flow ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Northern Iran ◽  
Gis Environment ◽  
The Impact

Land use change is known as one of the main influencing factors on soil erosion and sediment production processes. The objective of the article is to study on how land use change impacts on soil erosion by using Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) as a process-oriented soil erosion model. The study has been conducted under land use changes within the period of 1991–2014 in the Talar watershed located in northern Iran. The GIS environment was used to prepare the required maps including Digital Elevation Model (DEM), geology, land use, soil, and drainage network. The climatology data including average annual precipitation and air temperature as well as the volume of torrential rain were extracted from the data of meteorological stations located inside and around the study watershed. The results indicates that, within the period of 1991–2014, the forest area decreased by 12,478.04 ha (6%), while the other land uses including rainfed agriculture, rangeland, irrigated agriculture, and residential area increased by 7248.25, 4481.05, 476.00, and 273.95 ha, respectively. The estimated outflow with 100 year return interval was 432.14 m3 s−1 in 1991, which increased to 446.91 m3 s−1 in 2014. It can be concluded that the probability of larger and/or more frequent floods waves in the Talar River is expected to increase. In addition, the amount of production of erosion material (gross erosion) in the watershed increased from 1,918,186 to 2,183,558 m3 yr−1, and the real soil losses per year (sediment yield) of the watershed increased from 440,482.4 to 501,421.3 m3 yr−1. The results clearly emphasized how the lack of appropriate land management and planning leads to increase the maximum flow discharge and sediment yield of the watershed.

scholarly journals Soil erosion by snow gliding – a first quantification attempt in a subalpine area in Switzerland

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 3763-3775 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
A. Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Water Erosion ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Snow Gliding

Abstract. Snow processes might be one important driver of soil erosion in Alpine grasslands and thus the unknown variable when erosion modelling is attempted. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as a soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a subalpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide depositions, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). RUSLE permits the evaluation of soil loss by water erosion, the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved, and the measurement of snow glide deposition sediment yield can be directly related to snow-glide-induced erosion. Further, cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter of 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area and long-term average winter precipitation (1959–2010) with the spatial snow glide model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance confirmed the presence of snow gliding and ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values on the north-facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is an important information with respect to conservation planning and expected and ongoing land use changes in the Alps. Snow glide erosion estimated from the snow glide depositions was highly variable with values ranging from 0.03 to 22.9 t ha−1 yr−1 in the winter of 2012/2013. For sites affected by snow glide deposition, a mean erosion rate of 8.4 t ha−1 yr−1 was found. The difference in long-term erosion rates determined with RUSLE and 137Cs confirms the constant influence of snow-glide-induced erosion, since a large difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for sites with high snow glide rates and vice versa. Moreover, the difference between RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.64; p < 0.005) and to the snow deposition sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values under different land uses and land cover types. The resulting map highlighted the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding appears to be a crucial and non-negligible process impacting soil erosion patterns and magnitude in subalpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.

scholarly journals Effects of Vegetation Restoration on Soil Erosion on the Loess Plateau: A Case Study in the Ansai Watershed

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6266
Author(s):  
Hui Wei ◽  
Wenwu Zhao ◽  
Han Wang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Local Soil ◽  
Erosion Environment

Large-scale vegetation restoration greatly changed the soil erosion environment in the Loess Plateau since the implementation of the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. Evaluating the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erosion is significant to local soil and water conservation and vegetation construction. Taking the Ansai Watershed as the case area, this study calculated the soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration, using the Chinese Soil Loess Equation (CSLE), based on rainfall and soil data, remote sensing images and socio-economic data. The effect of vegetation restoration on soil erosion was evaluated by comparing the average annual soil erosion modulus under two scenarios among 16 years. The results showed: (1) vegetation restoration significantly changed the local land use, characterized by the conversion of farmland to grassland, arboreal land, and shrub land. From 2000 to 2015, the area of arboreal land, shrub land, and grassland increased from 19.46 km2, 19.43 km2, and 719.49 km2 to 99.26 km2, 75.97 km2, and 1084.24 km2; while the farmland area decreased from 547.90 km2 to 34.35 km2; (2) the average annual soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration was 114.44 t/(hm²·a) and 78.42 t/(hm²·a), respectively, with an average annual reduction of 4.81 × 106 t of soil erosion amount thanks to the vegetation restoration; (3) the dominant soil erosion intensity changed from “severe and light erosion” to “moderate and light erosion”, vegetation restoration greatly improved the soil erosion environment in the study area; (4) areas with increased erosion and decreased erosion were alternately distributed, accounting for 48% and 52% of the total land area, and mainly distributed in the northwest and southeast of the watershed, respectively. Irrational land use changes in local areas (such as the conversion of farmland and grassland into construction land, etc.) and the ineffective implementation of vegetation restoration are the main reasons leading to the existence of areas with increased erosion.

scholarly journals Impacts of oak deforestation and rainfed cultivation on soil redistribution processes across hillslopes using 137Cs techniques

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamsollah Ayoubi ◽  
Nafiseh Sadeghi ◽  
Farideh Abbaszadeh Afshar ◽  
Mohammad Reza Abdi ◽  
Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Erosion Rate ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Oak Forests ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Rainfed Farming

Abstract Background As one of the main components of land-use change, deforestation is considered the greatest threat to global environmental diversity with possible irreversible environmental consequences. Specifically, one example could be the impacts of land-use changes from oak forests into agricultural ecosystems, which may have detrimental impacts on soil mobilization across hillslopes. However, to date, scarce studies are assessing these impacts at different slope positions and soil depths, shedding light on key geomorphological processes. Methods In this research, the Caesium-137 (137Cs) technique was applied to evaluate soil redistribution and soil erosion rates due to the effects of these above-mentioned land-use changes. To achieve this goal, we select a representative area in the Lordegan district, central Iran. 137Cs depth distribution profiles were established in four different hillslope positions after converting natural oak forests to rainfed farming. In each hillslope, soil samples from three depths (0–10, 10–20, and 20–50 cm) and in four different slope positions (summit, shoulder, backslope, and footslope) were taken in three transects of about 20 m away from each other. The activity of 137Cs was determined in all the soil samples (72 soil samples) by a gamma spectrometer. In addition, some physicochemical properties and the magnetic susceptibility (MS) of soil samples were measured. Results Erosion rates reached 51.1 t·ha− 1·yr− 1 in rainfed farming, whereas in the natural forest, the erosion rate was 9.3 t·ha− 1·yr− 1. Magnetic susceptibility was considerably lower in the cultivated land (χhf = 43.5 × 10− 8 m3·kg− 1) than in the natural forest (χhf = 55.1 × 10− 8 m3·kg− 1). The lower soil erosion rate in the natural forest land indicated significantly higher MS in all landform positions except at the summit one, compared to that in the rainfed farming land. The shoulder and summit positions were the most erodible hillslope positions in the natural forest and rainfed farming, respectively. Conclusions We concluded that land-use change and hillslope positions played a key role in eroding the surface soils in this area. Moreover, land management can influence soil erosion intensity and may both mitigate and amplify soil loss.

scholarly journals Impacts of land use changes on soil erosion in Pa Deng sub-district, adjacent area of Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wijitkosum
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
National Park ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Adjacent Area ◽  
Erosion Risk ◽  
Study Results

Soil erosion has been considered as the primary cause of soil degradation since soil erosion leads to the loss of topsoil and soil organic matters which are essential for the growing of plants. Land use, which relates to land cover, is one of the influential factors that affect soil erosion. In this study, impacts of land use changes on soil erosion in Pa Deng sub-district, adjacent area of Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand, were investigated by applying remote sensing technique, geographical information system (GIS) and the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The study results revealed that land use changes in terms of area size and pattern influenced the soil erosion risk in Pa Deng in the 1990&ndash;2010 period. The area with smaller land cover obviously showed the high risk of soil erosion than the larger land cover did.

scholarly journals Modeling the Impacts of Land Use Changes on Soil Erosion at the River Basin Scale

10.5109/27370 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-387
Author(s):  
Yanna Xiong ◽  
Guoqiang Wang ◽  
Yanguo Teng ◽  
Kyoichi Otsuki
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
River Basin Scale ◽  
Basin Scale

scholarly journals Modeling Soil Erosion and Landscape Metric Analysis of River Catchments in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumayyah Aimi Mohd Najib
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Shannon Diversity Index ◽  
Universal Soil Loss Equation ◽  
Data Sampling ◽  
Shannon Diversity ◽  
Soil Loss Equation

To determine the soil erosion in ungauged catchments, the author used 2 methods: Universal Soil Loss Equation model and sampling data. Sampling data were used to verify and validate data from model. Changing land use due to human activities will affect soil erosion. Land use has changed significantly during the last century in Pulau Pinang. The main rapid changes are related to agriculture, settlement, and urbanization. Because soil erosion depends on surface runoff, which is regulated by the structure of land use and brought about through changes in slope length, land-use changes are one of many factors influencing land degradation caused by erosion. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was used to estimate past soil erosion based on land uses from 1974 to 2012. Results indicated a significant increase in three land-use categories: forestry, built-up areas, and agriculture. Another method to evaluate land use changes in this study was by using landscape metrics analysis. The mean patch size of built-up area and forest increased, while agriculture land use decreased from 48.82 patches in 1974 to 22.46 patches in 2012. Soil erosion increased from an estimated 110.18 ton/km2/year in 1974 to an estimated 122.44 ton/km2/year in 2012. Soil erosion is highly related (R2 = 0.97) to the Shannon Diversity Index, which describes the diversity in land-use composition in river basins. The Shannon Diversity Index also increased between 1974 and 2012. The findings from this study can be used for future reference and for ungauged catchment research studies.

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