Abstract
Soil erosion of sloped lands is one of the important sources of substantive sediments in watersheds. In order to investigate erosion characteristics of sloped lands during rainfall events in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, erosion processes of purple and yellow soils under different slope gradients and rainfall intensities were studied by using a rainfall simulator. The results showed that the sediment concentration in runoff was closely correlated with rainfall intensity. The sediment concentration in runoff gradually rose to a peak with time, and then gradually declined and approach a steady rate during simulation rainfall events. The particle size distribution of surface soils before the rainfall was different from that after the rainfall. Soil erosion mainly resulted in the loss of fine particles of surface soil through runoff, and the fine particles of soil were enriched in sediments. Soil erosion rates were gradually increased with the slope gradient when the slope gradient was less than 10°, and significantly increased when the slope gradient was more than 10°. The slope factor of yellow soil could be fitted well to that calculated by the formula of Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The trend of the slope factor of purple soil was similar to that of the slope factor that was derived from USLE. Therefore, the effect of slope gradients on soil erosion need to be further researched when USLE was applied to predict erosion in purple soil area.
Highlights
Soil erosion is a major environmental concern in agricultural areas, especially in hilly areas and sloped farmlands [1], often leading to severe land degradation and unexpected water eutrophication [2]
The properties peaksand of yellow sediment runoff water we sediment concentration in runoff ofofpurple soils concentration gradually rose upinand reached highly related to rainfall intensity
The results showed that the sediment concentration in runoff was closely correlated to rainfall intensity and slope gradient
Summary
Soil erosion is a major environmental concern in agricultural areas, especially in hilly areas and sloped farmlands [1], often leading to severe land degradation and unexpected water eutrophication [2]. There are around 800 million individuals who depend directly on steep lands with slope gradients of >20% for sustenance [3]. The soil erosion of sloped farmland is a tremendous threat to the sustainable development of agriculture in mountainous and hilly regions [4]. Soil erosion in sloped farmland is one of the important sources of substantive sediments in rivers. The serious erosion process in sloped farmland makes the soil’s depth thin, nutrient deficient, as well as crop yield decrease. Soil erosion is subject to multifarious factors such as rainfall intensity, soil erodibility, slope gradient, slope length, and cover-degree of vegetation [5,6]
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