Assessing sediment connectivity and soil erosion by water in a representative catchment on the Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

The hydrological connectivity on the Loess Plateau has been greatly altered by soil and water conservation measures in the past six decades, leading to significant reduction in sediment load. Nevertheless, how these measures affect sediment transport at the catchment scale remains unclear. This study coupled an index of connectivity (IC) with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model to estimate the sediment yield in the Yanhe catchment (7,725 km2). The model was used to assess the impacts of land use changes and check dam construction on sediment delivery. The land use maps showed increasing grassland (10.3%) and decreasing arable land (12.3%) from 1990 to 2010. The ranges of IC between the two land use scenarios showed significant changes with an average of 0.3 in 1990 and −0.5 in 2010. Land use changes resulted in average sediment delivery ratio decreasing from 0.39 in 1990 to 0.30 in 2010. The model was calibrated by annual sediment load at a gauging station, covering 5,852 km2 of the catchment and by sedimentation rates behind check dams in a representative sub-catchment. Measured and simulated sediment load showed consistent agreement, suggesting acceptable model performance. An approximately 60.7% reduction in sediment yield was attributed to land use changes and increasing check dams′ construction from 1990 to 2010. This study provided a good example of combining the IC with a soil erosion model to identify spatial patterns and temporal variations in sediment yield due to soil conservation measures.