Agriculture, soil erosion and fluvial processes in the basin of the Jialing Jiang (Sichuan Province/China)

Abstract

The Red Basin is a tectonic structure. Master stream is the Jialing Jiang, the most important tributary of the Chang Jiang in this area. The landforms are a cuesta landscape, climate is subtropic. Under irrigation 3 harvests of grain are possible. Small farms dominate. The region is overpopulated. Industrialization is in its infancy. Intense deforestation, extension of arable land and increasing grazing of animals on slopes and scarps of field-terraces have caused a change in precipitation, water regime and discharge of stream-borne material in the catchment area of the Rating Jiang. This differs distinctly from the neighbouring rivers and can be compared with the rivers of the loess areas of N China. Severe soil erosion destroys arable land at a growing rate. Unlike the loess area in the Red Basin, there is only a thin layer of soil which can be regenerated only over a long period of time. Afforestation and hydraulic engineering are intended to retard soil erosion. More effective would be diminished intensity of land use and the supply of organic material from plant decay — hitherto used as fuel - for soil. formation. But lack of employment outside agriculture prevents more extensive land use. So the destructive intervention into the ecosystem reflects the strain of increasing population in the stage of beginning industrialization. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** ABI02050 00004