Abstract
The adjacent agricultural watershed is a vital component of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR); however, it is affected by serious soil erosion. Assessing soil erosion dynamics in such watersheds is useful for identifying its causes and tendencies to develop, in turn providing scientific information for soil and water conservation at the regional scale. In the present study, the spatial and temporal patterns of soil erosion of a small agricultural watershed in central TGRR were investigated from 2002 to 2014 using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model, combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The trends and processes of the overall soil erosion intensity were analyzed using spatial overlay analysis and the Markov transition matrix model, respectively. The spatial distribution of soil erosion rates within this watershed was relatively consistent during the study period. Erosion intensity was moderate, with a mean soil loss of 35.1 t·ha−1·year−1. Precipitation was a dominant factor influencing the intensity of soil erosion. Moreover, most erosion intensities shifted closely to middle grades from 2002 to 2008, and declined from 2008 to 2014, indicating that soil erosion in the Wangjiagou watershed has recently decreased. These results suggest that recently implemented integrated soil management practices were responsible for the recently observed erosion patterns.
Highlights
Soil erosion is a global concern [1]
The relationship between annual rainfall amount and rainfall erosivity was illustrated by Figure 3
The present study was conducted in a small agricultural watershed in central Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) to investigate soil erosion dynamics based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model combined with the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technique
Summary
Soil erosion is a global concern [1]. Under the background of the climate change and continuing decline in the ratio of available natural resources to population, practices such as unreasonable tillage methods, overgrazing, and construction expose soils to greater risk of erosion [2]. Accelerated erosion has negative social and ecological impacts as it decreases water quality, deposits silt in rivers, destroys habitat and causes flooding, and causes nutrient loss and land degradation [3,4,5,6]. Appropriate policies to reduce the effects of soil erosion within watersheds rely on the analysis of spatiotemporal erosion patterns [7,8,9]. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of soil erosion is of great significance for local land management and erosion control [10].
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