Relationships Between Intensity Gradation and Evolution of Soil Erosion: A Case Study of Changting in Fujian Province, China

Abstract

Soil erosion gradation is a robust and objective quantitative indicator of soil erosion intensity. Recent applications of soil erosion gradation have focused on monitoring soil erosion with models or simulation of soil erosion through gradation trends. However, soil erosion simulation accuracy is generally being reduced due to the rare consideration of the relationship between soil erosion gradation and erosion evolution. In this study, we investigated different soil erosion intensity grades to demonstrate their sensitivity to types and rates of erosion. Specifically, the objective was to define the relationship between soil erosion gradation and soil erosion evolution in Changting, an undeveloped area in Fujian Province, China, for four time intervals (1975, 1990, 1999, and 2006). The time series of erosion gradation were developed by modeling analysis with integration of several erosion indicators, and the relationships between the erosion grades and evolution types and rates were quantified. Comparison of the collapsing forces with natural and restoring forces based on human activity demonstrated that there existed an obvious spatial uncertainty in the erosion evolution types, both positive and negative succession coexisted, and the evolution rates were mostly influenced by the force of policy orientation. The impacts of these driving forces were eventually reflected in the erosion intensity gradation and erosion evolution. The correlation between the negative succession rate and erosion intensity gradation was weak and showed a poor contribution to the average succession rate, while the negative correlation between the positive succession rate and erosion intensity gradation would be increasingly clear as time passed.