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Quantitative study on influences of terraced field construction and check-dam siltation on soil erosion

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Abstract

To study the influences of terraced field construction and check-dam siltation on soil erosion of a watershed, we built a simplified watershed model for the Loess Plateau hilly-gully region including terraced fields, slope farmlands, steep-slope grasslands, and dam farmlands, and defined three states of watershed (i.e., pioneer, intermediate, and climax stages, respectively). Then, the watershed soil erosion moduli at various stages were studied by using a revised universal soil loss equation. Our results show that the pioneer and climax stages are the extreme states of watershed soil-and-water conservation and control; in the pioneer stage, the soil erosion modulus was 299.56 t·ha−1·a−1 above the edge of gully, 136.64 t·ha−1·a−1 below the edge of gully, and 229.74 t·ha−1·a−1 on average; in the climax stage, the soil erosion modulus was 39.10 t·ha−1·a−1 above the edge of gully, 1.10 t·ha−1·a−1 below the edge of gully, and 22.81 t·ha−1·a−1 on average; in the intermediate stage, the soil erosion modulus above the edge of gully exhibited an exponential decline along with the increase in terraced field area percentage, while the soil erosion modulus below the edge of gully exhibited a linear decline along with the increase in siltation height.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, CAS and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Haidong Gao & Zhanbin Li

  2. Key Lab of Northwest Water Resources and Environment Ecology of Ministry of Education, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Zhanbin Li, Peng Li & Xiang Zhang

  3. Upper and Middle Yellow River Bureau, Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Lianlian Jia

Authors
  1. Haidong Gao
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  2. Zhanbin Li
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  3. Peng Li
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  4. Lianlian Jia
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  5. Xiang Zhang
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Correspondence to Zhanbin Li.

Additional information

Foundation: National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), No.2011CB403302; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40971161; No.41071182

Author: Gao Haidong (1983–), Ph.D, specialized in soil erosion and remote sensing.

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Gao, H., Li, Z., Li, P. et al. Quantitative study on influences of terraced field construction and check-dam siltation on soil erosion. J. Geogr. Sci. 22, 946–960 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0975-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0975-5

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