Assessing the impact of land use change on soil erosion on the Loess Plateau of China from the end of the 1980s to 2010

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 452-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Xi ◽  
X. Zhao ◽  
X. Wang ◽  
Z. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
The Impact

Distribution of soil organic carbon impacted by land-use change and check dam on the Loess Plateau of China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Shi ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Kexin Lu ◽  
Zhaohong Feng ◽  
Yang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Dam Construction ◽  
Check Dam ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
The Impact

<p>Vegetation restoration, terrace and check dam construction are the major measures for soil and water conservation on the Loess Plateau. These effective measures of stabilizing soils have significant impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) distribution. To understand the impact of land-use changes combined with check dam construction on SOC distribution, 1060 soil samples were collected across a watershed on the Loess Plateau. Forestland, shrubland and terrace had significant higher SOC concentrations in the 0-20 cm soil layer than that of sloping cropland.    Land use change affects the process of runoff and sediment transportation, which has an impact on the migration and transformation of soil carbon. The soil erosion of sloping farmland is the most serious, and the maximum annual erosion rate is as high as 10853.56 t·km<sup>-2</sup>. Carbon sedimented in the dam land was mainly from sloping cropland, and this source percentage was 65%. The application of hydrological controls to hillslopes and along river channels should be considered when assessing carbon sequestration within the soil erosion subsystem. </p>

scholarly journals Assessment of the Soil Erosion Response to Land Use and Slope in the Loess Plateau—A Case Study of Jiuyuangou

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenlu Huang ◽  
Qinke Yang ◽  
Xiayu Cao ◽  
Yuru Li
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Slope Gradient ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
The Impact

Soil erosion is a serious environmental problem in the Loess Plateau, China. Therefore, it is important to understand and evaluate soil erosion process in a watershed. In this study, the Chinese Soil Loss Equation (CSLE) is developed to evaluate the soil loss and analyze the impact of land use and slope on soil erosion in Jiuyuangou (JYG) watershed located in the hilly-gullied loess region of China 1970–2015. The results show that the quantities of soil erosion decreased clearly from 1977 to 2015 in the study area, which from 2011 (t/km²·a) in 1977 to 164 (t/km²·a) in 2004 and increased slowly to 320 (t/km²·a) in 2015. No significant soil erosion (<300 t/km²·a) changed in JYG watershed, which increased dramatically from 8.93% to 69.34% during 1977–2015. The area of farmland in this study area has been reduced drastically. Noting that the annual average soil erosion modulus of grassland was also showing a dropped trend from 1977 to 2015. In addition, the study shows that the annual average soil erosion modulus varied with slope gradient and the severe soil erosion often existed in the slope zone above 25°, which accounted for 4657 (t/km²·a) in 1977 and 382.27 (t/km²·a) in 2015. Meanwhile, soil erosion of different land-use types presented the similar changing trend (declined noticeably and then increased slowly) with the change of slope gradient from 1977 to 2015. Combined the investigations of extreme rainfall on 26 July 2015 for JYG watershed, the study provides the scientific support for the implementation of soil and water conservation measures to reduce the soil erosion and simplify Yellow River management procedures.

Impact of Climate Variability and Land Use Change on Surface Hydrological Processes in the Hilly-Gully Region of the Loess Plateau, China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youcai Kang ◽  
Jianen Gao ◽  
Hui Shao ◽  
Yuanyuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Impact

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract: &lt;/strong&gt;Climate and land-use change are the two main driving forces that affect watershed hydrological processes. Separately assessing the impacts of climate and land use change on hydrology is important for water resource management. In this research, the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and statistical methods were employed to evaluate the effects of climate and land-use change on surface hydrology in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau. The results showed that both the temperature and potential evapotranspiration (PET) had significant upward trends (p &lt; 0.05), while the precipitation presented a slightly downward trend in the Yanhe watershed during 1982-2012. The contribution of precipitation to streamflow is concentrated in the flooding periods (from July to September), the average contribution rate of surface runoff on stream flow accounted for 55%, of which the flooding period accounted for 40%. With the 2.17% of slope farmland transformed to the forest and grassland, the average runoff coefficient decreased from 0.36 to 0.15 during 1982-2012. The impact of land use change on soil water content is mainly happened in the upstream stream, while the dominated factor converted to climate from northwest to southeast in the Yanhe watershed. The Evapotranspiration was more sensitive to land-use change than climate variability in all sub-basins, and increased by 209% with vegetation restoration in the Yanhe watershed. Therefore, the impacts of climate variation and land use change on surface hydrological processes were heterogeneity in different geographical regions, climate is the main factor to influence the runoff, while the land use is the dominated factor to evapotranspiration. The quantitative assessment the influence of climate variability and land-use change on hydrology can provide insight into the extent of land use/cover change on regional water balance, and develop appropriate watershed management strategies on the Loess Plateau.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keywords: &lt;/strong&gt;climate shift, human activities, hydrological processes, SWAT, the Loess Plateau&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Funding:&lt;/strong&gt; This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41877078, 41371276), Key research and development project of Shaanxi Province (2020ZDLSF06-03-01), National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFC0504703) and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. A315021615).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

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 Assessing the Impact of Floods Disaster on Soil Erosion Risk Based on the RUSLE-GloSEM Approach in Western Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Akbari ◽  
Ehsan Neamatollahi ◽  
Hadi Memarian ◽  
Mohammad Alizadeh Noughani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Erosion Risk ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Major Floods ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Floods cause great damage to ecosystems and are among the main agents of soil erosion. Given the importance of soils for the functioning of ecosystems and development and improvement of bio-economic conditions, the risk and rate of soil erosion was assessed using the RUSLE model in Iran’s Lorestan province before and after a period of major floods in late 2018 and early 2019. Furthermore, soil erosion was calculated for current and future conditions based on the Global Soil Erosion Modeling Database (GloSEM). The results showed that agricultural development and land use change are the main causes of land degradation in the southern and central parts of the study area. The impact of floods was also significant since our evaluations showed that soil erosion increased from 4.12 t ha-1 yr-1 before the floods to 10.93 t ha-1 yr-1 afterwards. Field surveying using 64 ground control points determined that erodibility varies from 0.17 to 0.49% in the study area. Orchards, farms, rangelands and forests with moderate or low vegetation cover were the most vulnerable land uses to soil erosion. The GloSEM modeling results revealed that climate change is the main cause of change in the rate of soil erosion. Combined land use change-climate change simulation showed that soil erosion will increase considerably in the future under SSP1-RCP2.6, SSP2-RCP4.5, and SSP5-RCP8.5 scenarios. In the study area, both natural factors, i.e. climate change and human factors such as agricultural development, population growth, and overgrazing are the main drivers of soil erosion.

scholarly journals Quantitative Analysis of Hydrological Responses to Climate Variability and Land-Use Change in the Hilly-Gully Region of the Loess Plateau, China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youcai Kang ◽  
Jianen Gao ◽  
Hui Shao ◽  
Yuanyuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Upstream Region ◽  
The Loess Plateau

Climate and land-use change are the two main driving forces that affect watershed hydrological processes. Separately assessing their impacts on hydrology is important for land-use planning and water resource management. In this research, the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and statistical methods were applied to evaluate the effects of climate and land-use change on surface hydrology in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau. The results showed that surface runoff and soil water presented a downward tendency, while evapotranspiration (ET) presented an upward tendency in the Yanhe watershed from 1982 to 2012. Climate is one the dominant factors that influence surface runoff, especially in flooding periods. The average contribution rate of surface runoff on stream flow accounted for 55%, of which the flooding period accounted for 40%. The runoff coefficient declined by 0.21 after 2002 with the land-use change of cropland transformed to grassland and forestland. The soil water exhibited great fluctuation along the Yanhe watershed. In the upstream region, the land-use was the driving force to decline soil water, which reduced the soil water by 51%. Along the spatial distribution, it converted from land-use change to climate variability from northwest to southeast. The ET was more sensitive to land-use change than climate variability in all sub-basins, and increased by 209% with vegetation restoration. To prevent the ecosystem degradation and maintain the inherent ecological functions of rivers, quantitative assessment the influence of climate variability and land-use change on hydrology is of great importance. Such evaluations can provide insight into the extent of land use/cover change on regional water balance and develop appropriate watershed management strategies on the Loess Plateau.

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