Soil productive potential in small river basins

The index of soil productive potential can be used to characterize the state of ecosystems. This index is based on the long-term data on the productivity of vegetation and phytomass accumulation and on the factors affecting phytomass production processes. To estimate various parameters characterizing the productive potential of ecosystems, remote sensing methods have been used. It is shown that the normalized difference vegetation index can be applied for the purposes of monitoring of soil productive potential. This index allows us to estimate the state of vegetation and the activity of production processes at the given moment for different territories. The study of soil productive potential has been performed for small river basins.     

Allowable soil erosion rates in Georgia

A procedure was proposed for the determination of the maximum allowable soil disturbance in Georgia in order to develop a strategy of soil conservation and restoration. The allowable soil losses were calculated within the risk limits of 0.01 < r < 0.1. The lower and upper limits of the allowable soil loss were determined for the soils of different thicknesses. To compare the rates of the soil erosion, one uses the erosion index: the ratio between the actual erosion rate and its maximum allowable value. The actual erosion rate is determined from erosion equations, in which the integrated parameters of the soil loss tolerance include the permissible flow velocity and data on the climatic and soil conditions. From the estimated allowable soil erosion rates, criteria of decision making can be formulated for substantiating the strategy of soil conservation or restoration.     

Soil loss estimation using rusle model to prioritize erosion control in KELANI river basin in Sri Lanka

Soil erosion contributes negatively to agricultural production, quality of source water for drinking, ecosystem health in land and aquatic environments, and aesthetic value of landscapes. Approaches to understand the spatial variability of erosion severity are important for improving landuse management. This study uses the Kelani river basin in Sri Lanka as the study area to assess erosion severity using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model supported by a GIS system. Erosion severity across the river basin was estimated using RUSLE, a Digital Elevation Model (15 × 15 m), twenty years rainfall data at 14 rain gauge stations across the basin, landuse and land cover, and soil maps and cropping factors. The estimated average annual soil loss in Kelani river basin varied from zero to 103.7 t ha-1 yr⁻¹, with a mean annual soil loss estimated at 10.9 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. About 70% of the river basin area was identified with low to moderate erosion severity (<12 t ha−1 yr⁻¹) indicating that erosion control measures are urgently needed to ensure a sustainable ecosystem in the Kelani river basin, which in turn, is connected with the quality of life of over 5 million people. Use of this severity information developed with RUSLE along with its individual parameters can help to design landuse management practices. This effort can be further refined by analyzing RUSLE results along with Kelani river sub-basins level real time erosion estimations as a monitoring measure for conservation practices.     

伊朗土壤侵蚀及河流泥沙研究

土壤侵蚀使水土资源流失,河道泥沙淤积,严重制约着区域生态、社会、经济的发展。伊朗地处干旱、半干旱气候带,土壤侵蚀严重,河流泥沙问题突出,已成为影响该国经济社会发展的主要环境问题之一。通过介绍伊朗土壤侵蚀和泥沙淤积的基本情况,并对该国有关土壤侵蚀及河流泥沙方面的研究和治理成果进行总结,提出未来研究的趋势和相关建议,以期为伊朗和我国的水土保持及泥沙治理提供参考。     

Soil degradation by erosion

Soil degradation by accelerated erosion is a serious problem and will remain so during the 21st century, especially in developing countries of the tropics and subtropics. Yet, its extent, severity, and economic and environmental impacts are debatable. Estimates of global and regional land area affected are tentative and subjective. Results of field measurements are often technique‐dependent. Considerable progress has been made in modeling soil erosion, yet field validation of these models remains to be done for principal soils and ecoregions. Similar to the land area affected, estimates of erosional impacts on crop yield, productivity and soil quality are tentative and subjective. Further, erosion‐induced losses on crop yield are scale‐dependent because of the compensatory beneficial effects on yields from depositional sites, and technology‐dependent because of the masking effects of input such as fertilizers and irrigation. Erosion caused changes in soil carbon dynamics and non‐point source water pollution are important environmental impacts. While erosion (e.g., detachment and transport) can lead to emission of trace gases into the atmosphere, deposition can bury and sequester some of the carbon. In addition to improving the database on the land area affected, there is also a need to assess erosional impacts on productivity and soil C balance at the watershed, regional, and global scale. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil erosion in agricultural landscapes of Donbas

The use of topographic surveys performed in different years for the assessment of soil erosion is discussed. The estimates of soil erosion in 56 years within a gully catchment in the Donbass region are compared with the experimental data on soil erosion induced by the snowmelt runoff and with the model prediction of soil erosion induced by rainfall of 10% probability.     

Nitrogen balance in small river basins under agricultural and forestry use

The N balance has been studied in detail in the basins of small rivers under agricultural management and forest use. The N content of the watershed territory of large forests was found to be practically balanced. In the river basin where the land was intensively farmed for 10 yr, N input increased five times through mineral fertilizers, and one-and-a-half times through organic fertilizers. Consequently, the amount of N returned to the atmosphere as a result of denitrification increased by one-and-a-half times, and that leached into the ground water, increased from 0.8 to 6.5 mg 1^?1 N.     

Soil erosion and carbon dynamics

Accelerated erosion involves preferential removal of soil organic carbon (SOC) because it is concentrated in vicinity of the soil surface and has lower density than the mineral fraction. The SOC transported by water runoff is redistributed over the landscape and deposited in depressional sites where it is buried along with the sediments. However, the fate of the SOC transported, redistributed and deposited by erosional processes is a subject of intense debate. Sedimentologists argue that SOC buried with sediments is physically protected, and that depleted in the eroded soil is replaced through biomass production. Thus, they argue that the erosion–sedimentation process leads to globally net SOC sequestration of 0.6–1.5 Gt C/year. In contrast, soil scientists argue that: (i) a large portion of the SOC transported by water runoff comprises labile fraction, (ii) breakdown of aggregation by raindrop impact and shearing force of runoff accentuates mineralization of the previously protected organic matter, and (iii) the SOC within the plow zone at the depositional sites may be subject to rapid mineralization, along with methanogenesis and denitrification under anaerobic environment. Whereas, tillage erosion may also cause burial of some SOC, increase in soil erosion and emission of CO₂ from fossil fuel combustion are net sources of atmospheric CO₂. Soil scientists argue that soil erosion may be a net source of atmospheric CO₂ with emission of 1 Gt C/year. It is thus important to understand the fate of eroded SOC by measuring and monitoring SOC pool in eroded landscape as influenced by intensity and frequency of tillage operations and cropping systems.     

黄土坡面的土壤侵蚀波动性

 通过对黄土高塬沟壑区不同土地利用情况下土壤侵蚀的137Cs法研究,发现从坡顶到坡脚,土壤剖面的137Cs含量呈现强、弱交替的波动变化。通过对土壤侵蚀波动性的分析以及与其他研究成果的对比分析,发现随着坡长的增加,土壤侵蚀在坡面上总是呈现出一定的波动性,并由坡面细沟侵蚀的变化规律所决定。坡面土壤侵蚀的波动性可分为2种类型:一种是受人类活动影响较大的耕作型;另一种是受人类活动影响较少的自然型。     

Soil landscapes and drainage basins in Mediterranean mountain areas

We carried out an analysis of the interrelations between soil landscapes and drainage basins in a mountain area of acid substrates. The climate is Mediterranean continental. The results obtained seem to demonstrate the existence of marked causal connections in the structure and genesis of both types of systems (fluvial and pedological). As the erosion cycle advanced during the Quaternary, the soil landscapes became enriched and diversified (increase in negentropy). The repercussions that this process could have on the emergence and extension of geo-ecological niches (pedogeomorphological units which lead to the establishment of particular biocenoses) were analyzed. The evolution of the abiotic structures of a landscape is regulated by the specific conditions prior to the development or remodelling of drainage networks.     

国主要江河流域土壤侵蚀量测算

 为了对我国土壤侵蚀进行评估,需要测算多年平均侵蚀量。在前人研究的基础上,收集主要江河泥沙测验资料和水土保持研究资料,采用河流泥沙输移比法和水土保持法,测算出我国黄河、长江等9大江河流域多年平均侵蚀量为53.10亿t,并与相关资料进行对比;讨论流域分区的泥沙输移比差异。结果表明:侵蚀总量以长江流域最大,黄河流域次之,淮河、珠江、辽河、松花江流域依次居后,闽江和钱塘江流域最少。     

Soil erosion and redistribution on cultivated and uncultivated land near las bardenas in the central Ebro river Basin,Spain

The semiarid regions of Spain, including the central part of the Ebro River basin, are under threat due to desertification. Severe erosion, as a result of poor land management, has led to degradation of the soil resource, and there is a clear need for quantitative erosion rate data to evaluate the problem. This study aimed to examine the potential for using caesium-137 to identify the patterns and rates of soil erosion and redistribution within this semiarid environment. Samples for the determination of caesium-137 were collected from uncultivated slopes and cultivated valley floor sites near the head and outlet of a small representative basin in the Las Bardenas area. The measured patterns of caesium-137 mobilization, redistribution and export provide a semiquantitative indication of the variation in erosion within the study site. Calibration of the caesium-137 measurements, taking account of the differing behaviour of radiocaesium on cultivated and uncultivated land, allows estimation of the actual rates of erosion and deposition involved. The results show (1) the erosion rates on the cultivated land (1.6–2.5 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹) are typically more than five times those seen on the uncultivated land (0.2–0.4 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹), and (2) erosion on the uncultivated land is significantly less severe at the head of the basin than at the outlet. Study of the vegetation cover suggests that lower growing shrubs and grasses may be more effective in reducing erosion in this environment than trees.     

Soil erosion in vineyards in the Ardeche region

The factors which determine the occurrence and the intensity of soil erosion in vineyards, have been studied. In these vineyards various methods of wine-growing management in the research area (Ardèche, France) are discussed and a measure for the intensity of erosion is provided. The latter is based on the volume of the erosion channels per unit area. With the help of this measure the importance of various key variables is evaluated. With respect to soil conservation it is recommended to attune the management and control of the vineyards to an approximation of the natural ecosystem.     

公路建设项目水土流失及其防治措施初探

 公路建设带来经济的发展与繁荣,同时影响到环境,尤其是水土流失问题。为防止水土流失的发生,保障公路正常安全运行,促进路域生态系统的建设,结合公路施工过程和特点,探讨公路建设项目中水土流失的特点,造成水土流失的原因,以及由此引起的一系列负面影响,并提出了相应的水土流失防治措施。     

Testing of the hydromechanical prediction model of soil erosion under the conditions of Georgia

A hydromechanical model for predicting water (rain-induced) soil erosion was tested on the experimental plots of the Research Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in Zendidi village (the Ajara Autonomous Republic) and the Sabashvili Institute of Soil Science, Agrochemistry, and Melioration in Khevi and Kitskhi villages (Upper Imeretia, Western Georgia). A comparison of factual and predicted values of rain-induced erosion for the plots with permanent black fallow showed that the model overestimated the average annual soil loss for the yellow-brown strongly eroded soil in Zendidi village by 23.22 t/ha (133%). This value ranged in different years from 18 to 1052%. For the plots with corn, the predicted value of annual erosion was by 16.94 t/ha higher than the factual value (overestimation of 488%). A comparison of factual and predicted values of rainfall erosion for the plots under sprinkling irrigation also showed that the predicted soil loss was higher than the factual one by 4.14–30.40 t/ha for corn, 6.76–11.14 t/ha for winter wheat, and 15.75–24.12 t/ha for the plots with stubble of winter wheat and barley. Thus, the hydromechanical model for predicting water erosion inadequately describes it under the conditions of Western Georgia and has to be refined.     

Regional specificity of radionuclide fixation in river basins due to soil petrology and mineralogy

Journal of Soils and Sediments - The main goal of this research was to compare and reveal the difference in the character of Cs-137 distribution and fixation in fine fractions of alluvial soils...     

中国亚热带不同种植制度下的土壤侵蚀

In order to optimise land use systems, to prevent erosion-induced degradation and to restore the degraded red soils in subtropical China, five cropping systems and four agroforestry systems were conducted in red soils with a slope of 7° from 1993 to 1995. The results showed that erosion risk period occurred from April to June, and the annual runoff and the losses of soil and nutrients with sediment were alarming for two conventional farming systems, whereas they were negligible for the farming systems with ridge tillage. Enrichment ratios of the lost soils from erosion were more than 1.20 for all nutrients with much higher values for hydrolysable N and organic matter. Compared with the control, the alley cropping systems also distinctly decreased runoff by 30% or 50%. However, the coverage of soil surface varied with alley cropping systems for the competition of nutrients and soil water, which made a profound difference in runoff. The cropping systems of sweet potato intercropped with soybean, the alley cropping systems and the measures of mulching and ridge tillage were the alternatives for red soil reclamation so as to prevent erosion-induced degradation.