Spatial scale effects on sediment concentration in runoff during flood events for hilly areas of the Loess Plateau, China

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1499-1509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingguo Zheng ◽  
Fen Qin ◽  
Liying Sun ◽  
Deli Qi ◽  
Qiangguo Cai
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scale ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Flood Events ◽  
The Loess Plateau

scholarly journals Effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and erosion of farmland on the Loess Plateau, China, subjected to simulated rainfall

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linhua Wang ◽  
Bo Ma ◽  
Faqi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Simulated Rainfall ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Losses ◽  
Runoff Volume ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Wheat Stubble ◽  
Summer Fallow ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. Soil and water losses in agriculture are major environmental problems worldwide, especially on the Loess Plateau, China. Summer fallow management may help to control soil erosion and conserve water. This study investigated the effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and soil loss in laboratory plots under simulated rainfall. The treatments comprised wheat stubble cover (WS) and traditional plowing (TP) in runoff plots (4.0 m  ×  1.0 m) with three slope gradients (5, 10, and 15°) under simulated rainfall at 80 mm h−1 for 1 h. The runoff volume from WS plots was significantly less than that from TP. The runoff reduction with WS ranged from 91.92 to 92.83 % compared with TP. The runoff rates varied with the runoff volume in the same manner. The infiltration amount was higher with WS (94.8–96.2 % of rainwater infiltrated) than TP (35.4–57.1 %). The sediment concentration was significantly lower with WS than TP. Compared with TP (304.31–731.23 g m−2), the sediment losses were reduced dramatically in WS (2.41–3.78 g m−2) and the sediment loss slightly increased with slope; however, it was greatly increased as slope increased in TP. These results revealed that the stubble cover was the main factor reducing runoff and sediment losses and improving infiltration and that stubble showed a great potential to control erosion and conserve soil and water resources during the summer fallow period in the Loess Plateau region.

Understanding land use and cover change impacts on run-off and sediment load at flood events on the Loess Plateau, China

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 576-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoping Zhang ◽  
Pengfei Lin ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
Rui Yan ◽  
Jianjun Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Load ◽  
Flood Events ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Land Use And Cover

scholarly journals Effects of rainfall intensity on the sediment concentration in the Loess Plateau, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-467
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Liu ◽  
Suzhen Dang ◽  
Changming Liu ◽  
Guotao Dong
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
The Loess Plateau

Formulating an elasticity approach to quantify the effects of ecological restoration and climate variability on streamflow and sediment discharge changes in the Loess Plateau of China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyao Gao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Discharge ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Check Dams

<p>Ecological restoration (ER) has strong consequences on hydrological responses. The China’s Loess Plateau (LP) contributed nearly 90% of sediment load in the Yellow River, which was once the world’s largest carrier of fluvial sediment. ER efforts including the soil and water conservation measures (SWCMs, especially terracing and construction of check dams) since 1950s and large-scale ecological restoration campaigns such as Grain-for-Green project (i.e., returning sloping cropland to afforestation and pasture reestablishment) in 1999, has resulted in extensive land use/cover change, leading to considerable decreases of streamflow (Q), suspended sediment yield (SSY) and sediment concentration (C) in the LP over the past 60 years. However, it remains challenging to quantify the impacts of ER and climate variability on declines of Q and especially SSY. In this study, we formulate the notion of elasticity of sediment discharge, by associating SSY change to climate variability and ER over the period 1950s to 2014. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that changes to both streamflow volumes and to the suspended sediment concentration versus water discharge (C-Q) relationships result in reduced SSY, so that streamflow is reduced but runs clearer. We find that two of the ER strategies resulted in weaker relative impacts of climate variability, largely by reducing streamflow (by 55% to 75%). Meanwhile, ER predominantly decreased SSY (by 63% to 81%). Regarding ER practices, (i) the predominant measure acting to reduce SSY changed, over time, from engineering to reforestation; (ii) check-dams preferentially act to regulate the C-Q relationships whereas reforestation preferentially acts to moderate streamflow. Overall, our results suggest that a combination of engineering and vegetation measures is critical to achieving high-efficiency ER. While change to the ER strategy increased the efficiency of streamflow for SSY control, the lost water discharge per unit SSY reduction increased from 5.2 to 6.4 m<sup>3</sup>·t<sup>-1</sup>. Conflicting demands for water necessitate that further ER should target precision management by revegetation of targeted areas in the Loess Plateau.</p>

scholarly journals Plant litter estimation and its correlation with sediment concentration in the Loess Plateau

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Ligang Ma ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
Adilai Wufu ◽  
Yinbo Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Plant Litter ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Litter Cover

Background. Sediment concentration in the water of the loess Plateau region has dramatically decreased during the past two decades. Plant litter is considered to be one of the most important factors for this change. Existing remote sensing studies that focus on plant litter mainly use extraction methods based on vegetation indices or changes in the plant litter. Few studies have conducted time series analyses of plant litter or considered the correlation between plant litter and soil erosion. In addition, social factors are not given enough consideration in the remote sensing and soil community. Methods. This study performs time series estimation of plant litter by integrating three-scale remotely sensed data and a random forest (RF) modeling algorithm. Predictive models are used to estimate the spatially explicit plant litter cover for the entire Loess Plateau over the last two decades (2000–2018). Then, the sediment concentration in the water was classified into 9 grades based on environmental and social-economic factors. Results. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed predictive models at the regional scale. The areas with increased plant litter cover accounted for 67% of the total area, while the areas with decreased plant litter cover accounted for 33% of the total area. In addition, plant litter is demonstrated to be one of the top three factors contributing to the decrease in the river sediment concentration. Social-economic factors were also important for the decrease of the sediment concentration in the water, for example, the population of the rural area.

scholarly journals Influences of conservation measures on runoff and sediment yield in different intra-event-based flood regimes in the Chabagou watershed

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan-Shan Wang ◽  
Zhan-Bin Li ◽  
Le-Tao Zhang ◽  
Bo Ma
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Suspended Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Flood Duration ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
Event Based ◽  
Measurement Period

AbstractThe Loess Plateau in China has suffered severe soil erosion. To control soil erosion, extensive conservation measures aimed at redistributing rainfall, hindering flow velocity and intercepting sediment were implemented on the Loess Plateau. To accurately evaluate the combined effect of conservation measures in the Chabagou watershed, this study classified intra-event-based floods into four regimes via cluster and discriminant analyses. Regime A was characterized by short flood duration and low erosive energy, regime B was characterized by short flood duration and high erosive energy, regime C was characterized by long flood duration and low erosive energy, and regime D was characterized by long flood duration and high erosive energy. The results indicated that peak discharge (qp), runoff depth (H), mean discharge (qm), and runoff erosion power (E) decreased by 75.2%, 56.0%, 68.0% and 89.2%, respectively, in response to conservation measures. Moreover, area-specific sediment yield (SSY), average suspended sediment concentration (SCE), and maximum suspended sediment concentration (MSCE) decreased by 69.2%, 33.3% and 11.9%, respectively, due to conservation measures. The nonlinear regression analysis revealed a power function relationship between SSY and E in both the baseline (1961–1969) and measurement period (1971–1990) in all regimes. Conservation measures reduced sediment yield by not only reducing the runoff amount and soil erosion energy but also transforming the flood regime, for example, transforming a high-sediment-yield regime into a low-sediment-yield regime. Moreover, conservation measures altered the SSY-E relationship in regime A, whereas no obvious difference in regime B or C/D was observed between the measurement period and the baseline period. This study provides a better understanding of the mechanism of runoff regulation and the sediment yield reduction under comprehensive conservation measures in a small watershed on the Chinese Loess Plateau.

Factors influencing soil moisture in the Loess Plateau, China: a review

2018 ◽  
Vol 109 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 501-509
Author(s):  
Wenwu ZHAO ◽  
Xuening FANG ◽  
Stefani DARYANTO ◽  
Xiao ZHANG ◽  
Yaping WANG
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Semi Arid

ABSTRACTSoil moisture is a key issue for eco-hydrological research in arid and semi-arid regions, and is primarily concerned with water availability for vegetation. Shallow and deep soil moisture occurs according to the maximum infiltration depth. Soil moisture has three-dimensional characteristics: inter-layer variability, horizontal heterogeneity and temporal variability. Soil moisture is affected by various factors including terrain, soil characteristics, climate and vegetation, and the effects of these change with time (e.g., rainfall patterns) and space (e.g., soil depth). In arid and semi-arid regions, deep soil moisture is of particular importance to vegetation restoration and the evaluation of vegetation sustainability; however, accurate prediction of the spatial distribution of deep soil moisture in the Loess Plateau of China still faces numerous challenges. Therefore, future research should focus on the mechanisms, models and scale effects of soil moisture, particularly for deep soil moisture.

scholarly journals Plant litter estimation and its correlation with sediment concentration in the Loess Plateau

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Ligang Ma ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
Adilai Wufu ◽  
Yinbo Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Plant Litter ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Litter Cover

Background. Sediment concentration in the water of the loess Plateau region has dramatically decreased during the past two decades. Plant litter is considered to be one of the most important factors for this change. Existing remote sensing studies that focus on plant litter mainly use extraction methods based on vegetation indices or changes in the plant litter. Few studies have conducted time series analyses of plant litter or considered the correlation between plant litter and soil erosion. In addition, social factors are not given enough consideration in the remote sensing and soil community. Methods. This study performs time series estimation of plant litter by integrating three-scale remotely sensed data and a random forest (RF) modeling algorithm. Predictive models are used to estimate the spatially explicit plant litter cover for the entire Loess Plateau over the last two decades (2000–2018). Then, the sediment concentration in the water was classified into 9 grades based on environmental and social-economic factors. Results. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed predictive models at the regional scale. The areas with increased plant litter cover accounted for 67% of the total area, while the areas with decreased plant litter cover accounted for 33% of the total area. In addition, plant litter is demonstrated to be one of the top three factors contributing to the decrease in the river sediment concentration. Social-economic factors were also important for the decrease of the sediment concentration in the water, for example, the population of the rural area.

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