Linking recent changes in sediment yields and aggregate-associated organic matter sources from a typical catchment of the Loess Plateau, China

Challenges for dryland farming on the Loess Plateau of China are continuous nutrient loss, low soil organic matter and crop yield, and soil degradation. Controlled traffic, combined with zero or minimum tillage and residue cover, has been proposed to improve soil structure and crop yield. From 1998 to 2006, we conducted a field experiment comparing soil organic matter and wheat productivity between controlled traffic and conventional tillage farming systems. The field experiment was conducted using 2 controlled traffic treatments (zero tillage with residue cover and no compaction, shallow tillage with residue cover and no compaction) and a conventional tillage treatment. Results showed that controlled traffic treatments significantly increased soil organic matter and microbial biomass in the 0–0.30 m soil profile. Controlled traffic with zero tillage significantly increased total N in the 0–0.05 m soil profile. The mean yield over 8 years of controlled traffic treatments was >10% greater than that of conventional tillage. Controlled traffic farming appears to be a solution to the cropping problems faced on the Loess Plateau of China.

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Sediment Yield in Dam-Controlled Watersheds in the Pisha Sandstone Region on the Northern Loess Plateau, China

Land ◽

10.3390/land10111264 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1264

Author(s):

Fabing Xie ◽

Guangju Zhao ◽

Xingmin Mu ◽

Peng Tian ◽

Peng Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Sediment Yield ◽

Water Conservation ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Sediment Yields ◽

Erosion Rates ◽

Soil Erosion Rate ◽

Check Dams ◽

Loss Control

Soil erosion has become the dominant environmental issue endangering sustainable development in agriculture and the ecosystem on the Loess Plateau. Determination of watershed soil erosion rates and sediment yields is essential for reasonable utilization of water resources and soil loss control. In this study, we employed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to determine the sediment yields in 24 dam-controlled watersheds in the Pisha sandstone region of the northern Loess Plateau. High differences in total sediment were trapped before the check dams due to their running periods and sediment yields. The estimated specific sediment yield ranged from 34.32 t/(ha∙a) to 123.80 t/(ha∙a) with an average of 63.55 t/(ha∙a), which indicated that the Pisha sandstone region had an intense soil erosion rate. Furthermore, the modified Sediment Distributed Delivery (SEDD) model was applied to identify the erosion-prone areas in the watersheds, and the sediment retained in the check dams were used for model calibration. The performance of the model was acceptable, and the modeling results indicated that the steep Pisha sandstone was the major sediment source for the watersheds, accounting for approximately 87.37% of the sediment yield. Catchment area, erosive precipitation, and badland proportion were the key factors for sediment yield in the dam-controlled watersheds of the Pisha sandstone region, according to multiple regression analyses. These findings indicated that the modified SEDD model is very efficient in identifying spatial heterogeneities of sediment yield in the watershed but requires comprehensive calibration and validation with long-term observations. The Pisha sandstone region is still the key area of soil erosion control in the Loess Plateau, which needs more attention for soil and water conservation due to high sediment yield.

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Assessing the effects of changes in land use and climate on runoff and sediment yields from a watershed in the Loess Plateau of China

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.060 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 544 ◽

pp. 238-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 118

Author(s):

Depeng Zuo ◽

Zongxue Xu ◽

Wenyi Yao ◽

Shuangyan Jin ◽

Peiqing Xiao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Sediment Yields

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Digital elevation model-based watershed geomorphic entropy for the study of landscape evolution of a watershed geomorphic system in the loess landforms of China

Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment ◽

10.1177/0309133316669091 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 139-153

Author(s):

Weidong Zhao ◽

Guoan Tang ◽

Lei Ma ◽

Jitang Zhao ◽

Wan Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Digital Elevation Model ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Landscape Evolution ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Method Of Calculation ◽

Sediment Yields ◽

Digital Elevation ◽

Elevation Model ◽

Evolutional Process

Although the concept of entropy in landscape evolution was proposed over 40 years ago, previous studies of geomorphic entropy paid little attention to the applications of geomorphic entropy in the erosional watershed geomorphic system on the Loess Plateau in China. Therefore, we propose a new concept of entropy called watershed geomorphic entropy (WGE) and its method of calculation based on a digital elevation model and the principles of system theory. To study the geomorphic significances of WGE, we applied the WGE to an artificial rainfall experiment that was originally designed to study erosional processes in a small open watershed geomorphic system on the Loess Plateau. Our study shows that the decrease of WGE in an open watershed geomorphic system means a gradual erosional or erosion-dominated landscape evolutional process and the change of WGE shows a perfectly positive linear correlation with the measured sediment yields of the outlet of the watershed system under our experimental conditions. In addition, to some extent, the decrease of the change of WGE also reflects the reduction of total potential energy of a specific erosional, or erosion-dominated, open watershed geomorphic system.

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Responses of soil nitrogen, phosphorous and organic matter to vegetation succession on the Loess Plateau of China

Journal of Arid Land ◽

10.1007/s40333-014-0043-3 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 216-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Man Cheng ◽

ShaoShan An

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Soil Nitrogen ◽

Vegetation Succession ◽

The Loess Plateau

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Response of soil nutrient structure and aggregate strength to land use in a typical area in the Loess Plateau, China

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4184 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yixin Zhang ◽

Peng Li ◽

Guoce Xu

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Soil Nutrient ◽

Transport Processes ◽

Initial Time ◽

Soil Reclamation ◽

Land Restoration ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Restoration Process

<p>Changes in land use patterns have important implications for soil structure and soil nutrient transport processes. This paper is based on the project of returning farmland to forests in the Loess Plateau-Ziwuling area of China. Explore the phase changes of the aggregate structure and nutrients content and its effect on soil infiltration and erodibility during the changing land use process. Identify the effective time domain for soil management in the area, which provide a scientific basis for coordinating regional land use and efficient soil erosion control. The results showed that with the increase of soil recovery/opening time, the content of soil water stable aggregates (SWAG), soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) showed an increasing /decreasing trend. In the process of soil reclamation, the content of organic matter in large-size aggregates (>5mm) decreases first at a higher rate, while in land restoration process, the content of organic matter in small-sized (2-5mm) aggregates increases rapidly. With the increase of soil reclamation time, the initial time of runoff production is advanced. In the 30-year of the land restoration process, the erodibility K decreased by 87%, and the SOC content has reached 96% to the common forest level, indicate that the soil quality is greatly improved when the land returns to this moment, the ability to resist erosion reaches a certain level and tends to be stable, and it is considered that the input and output of the governance before the time node is relatively high.</p>

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