Abstract
Inappropriate vegetation reconstruction in the Loess Plateau region has led to a significant increase in regional evapotranspiration and water consumption, further aggravating the shortage of soil water resources in the Loess Plateau region. The Jing River basin is a typical area for vegetation reconstruction in the Loess Plateau region. A thorough understanding of changes in hydrological processes in the Jing River basin is of significant scientific importance for efficient utilization of soil water resources and sustainable vegetation restoration in the region. In this study, the physically based Water and Energy Transfer Processes (WEP) distributed hydrological model was used to simulate key hydrological processes in the Jing River Basin during different periods before and after the implementation of cropland conversion to forest and grassland from 1980 to 2019. The results showed that after the implementation of cropland conversion to forest and grassland from 2000 to 2019, the average runoff volume in the Jing River Basin decreased by 20.91%. The most significant decrease in average runoff occurred in the central and northern parts of the basin, with a maximum reduction of 48.6%. The decrease in runoff in flood season is more obvious. The peak discharge decreased by 24.91%, and the most significant decrease occurred in the northern and central parts of the basin, ranging from 10.3% to 50.2%. The spatial distribution pattern of average soil moisture in the 0–0.8 m soil layer showed more moisture in the south and less in the north, with the minimum value occurring in certain areas in the eastern part of the basin. Overall, the implementation of cropland conversion to forest and grassland led to a certain degree of decrease in soil moisture in the basin. After the implementation of cropland conversion to forest and grassland, reference evapotranspiration fluctuated only in specific areas of the basin with no significant overall change.
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