Impacts of land use changes and land cover alteration on soil erosion rates and vulnerability of tropical mountain ranges in Borneo

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 57-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Vijith ◽  
A. Hurmain ◽  
D. Dodge-Wan
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 2658-2667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Golosov ◽  
Oleg Yermolaev ◽  
Leonid Litvin ◽  
Nelli Chizhikova ◽  
Zoya Kiryukhina ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 3675-3710 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
A. Walter ◽  
...  

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 soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a sub-alpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide deposits, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs, and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The RUSLE model is suitable to estimate soil loss by water erosion, while the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved. Thus, we hypothesise that the soil erosion rates determined with the 137Cs method are higher and that the observed discrepancy between the soil erosion rate of RUSLE and the 137Cs method is related to snow gliding and sediment concentrations in the snow glide deposits. Cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter 2009/10 and modelled for the surrounding area with the Spatial Snow Glide Model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values at the north facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is important information with respect to conservation planning and expected land use changes in the Alps. Our hypothesis was confirmed: the difference of RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2= 0.64; p < 0.005) and snow sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). A high difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for high snow glide rates and vice versa. 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 is a key process impacting soil erosion pattern and magnitude in sub-alpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 9505-9531 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
C. Alewell

Abstract. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a sub-alpine area in Switzerland. The 14 investigated sites are located close to the valley bottom at approximately 1500 m a.s.l., while the elevation of the surrounding mountain ranges is about 2500 m a.s.l. We used two different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The RUSLE model is suitable to estimate soil loss by water erosion, while the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved. Thus, we hypothesise that the soil erosion rates determined with the 137Cs method are higher and that the observed discrepancy between the erosion rate of RUSLE and the 137Cs method is related to snow gliding. Cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area with the Spatial Snow Glide Model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance range from 0 to 189 cm with lower values for the north exposed 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 land use changes in the Alps. Our hypothesis was confirmed, the difference of RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was correlated to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.73; p < 0.005). A high difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for high snow glide rates and vice versa. The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values between different land use/land cover types. The resulting map highlights the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding is a key process impacting soil erosion pattern and magnitude in sub-alpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 3763-3775 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
A. Walter ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamsollah Ayoubi ◽  
Nafiseh Sadeghi ◽  
Farideh Abbaszadeh Afshar ◽  
Mohammad Reza Abdi ◽  
Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh ◽  
...  

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.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wijitkosum

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.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Milazzo ◽  
Tom Vanwalleghem ◽  
Pilar Fernández, Rebollo ◽  
Jesus Fernández-Habas

&lt;p&gt;Land use and land management changes impact significantly on soil erosion rates. The Mediterranean, and in particular Southern Spain, has been affected by important shifts in the last decades. This area is currently identified as a hotspot for soil erosion by water. In the effort to achieve the SDG Target 15, we aim to show the effect of land management change, assessing soil erosion rate based on historical data. We analyzed the evolution of land use from historical aerial photographs between 1990 and 2018. We then calculated soil erosion with RUSLE. For this, we first determined the distribution frequency of cover-management factors for each land use class, comparing current land use maps with the European Soil Erosion Map (Panagos et al., 2015). Past C factors where then assigned using a Monte Carlo approach, based on the obtained frequency distributions.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


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