Spatio-temporal analysis of different levels of road expansion on soil erosion distribution: a case study of Fengqing county, Southwest China

Abstract

The construction of roads has direct and indirect impacts on soil erosion, with spatio-temporal variations existing among different levels of road zones. Aiming to quantitatively analyze the soil loss, this paper explored the relationship between the erosion of soil and its distance from the road in Fengqing county, Southwest China in 1987 and 2004, respectively. The average soil erosion was calculated and expressed with grid map using universal soil loss equation (USLE) model based on GIS and RS. Along the different levels of roads classified as trunk, county, town, village and unpaved road, the buffer zones were subdivided into five stripes, each of which was 200 meters wide. The average soil erosion modulus of each buffer zone was also counted. Results show that the soil loss decreases with increasing distance to the road except rare trunk roads in the region. In addition, the declined intensity varies with the different levels of roads. Soil erosion was more serious along the lower level road than the higher ones. And soil erosion was more severe for all levels of roads in 1987 than those in 2004 because much more rainfalls affected the situation of soil erosion in 1987.