Evaluating gully erosion using Cs and Pb/Cs ratio in a reservoir catchment

Water erosion in the hilly areas of west China is the main process contributing to the overall sediment of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The impact of gully erosion in total sediment output has been mostly neglected. Our objective was to assess the sediment production and sediment sources at both the hillslope and catchment scales in the Yangjuangou reservoir catchment of the Chinese Loess Plateau, northwest China. Distribution patterns in sediment production caused by water erosion on hills and gully slopes under different land use types were assessed using the fallout ¹³⁷Cs technique. The total sediment production from the catchment was estimated by using the sediment record in a reservoir. Sediment sources and dominant water erosion processes were determined by comparing ¹³⁷Cs activities and ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs ratios in surface soils and sub-surface soils with those of sediment deposits from the reservoir at the outlet of the catchment. Results indicated that landscape location had the most significant impact on sediment production for cultivated hillslopes, followed by the terraced hillslope, and the least for the vegetated hillslope. Sediment production increased in the following order: top>upper>lower>middle for the cultivated hillslope, and top>lower>upper>middle for the terraced hillslope. The mean value of sediment production declined by 49% for the terraced hillslope and by 80% for the vegetated hillslope compared with the cultivated hillslope. Vegetated gully slope reduced the sediment production by 38% compared with the cultivated gully slope. These data demonstrate the effectiveness of terracing and perennial vegetation cover in controlling sediment delivery at a hillslope scale. Averaged ¹³⁷Cs activities and ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs ratios in the 0–5 cm surface soil (2.22–4.70 Bq kg⁻¹ and 20.70–22.07, respectively) and in the 5–30 cm subsoil (2.60 Bq kg⁻¹ and 28.57, respectively) on the cultivated hills and gully slopes were close to those of the deposited sediment in the reservoir (3.37 Bq kg⁻¹ and 29.08, respectively). These results suggest that the main sediment sources in the catchment were from the surface soil and subsoil on the cultivated slopes, and that gully erosion is the dominant water erosion process contributing sediment in the study area. Changes in land use types can greatly affect sediment production from gully erosion. An increase in grassland and forestland by 42%, and a corresponding decrease in farmland by 46%, reduced sediment production by 31% in the catchment.     

东北漫岗黑土区地形因子对浅沟侵蚀的影响分析

浅沟侵蚀是坡耕地上重要的产沙方式之一,地形是控制其发生及发展的关键因素。通过对东北漫岗黑土区两个小流域的地形因子和浅沟侵蚀进行相关分析发现,浅沟长度、侵蚀体积与坡面长度呈显著相关,与汇水面积也有较好的相关。根据地形临界理论,确定了研究区浅沟和切沟侵蚀发生的地形临界（S-A）关系：SEG=0.052AEG^- 0.148和SG=0.072 AG^- 0.141,可以用来预测小流域内可能发生浅沟侵蚀以及浅沟向切沟侵蚀转变的部位。在地形分析的基础上,建立了预测浅沟长度的回归模型,交叉验证表明模型对单条浅沟长度的预测误差较大,平均误差37%;而预测浅沟总长度效果较好,预测浅沟总侵蚀量与实测值的误差也只有6%。     

Land-use effects on organic matter and physical properties of soil in a southern Mediterranean highland of Turkey

Forest and grassland soils in highlands of southern Mediterranean Turkey are being seriously degraded and destructed due to extensive agricultural activities. This study investigated the effects of changes in land-use type on some soil properties in a Mediterranean plateau. Three adjacent land-use types included the cultivated lands, which have been converted from pastures for 12 years, fragmented forests, and unaltered pastures lands. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from four sites at each of the three different land-use types from depths of 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm in Typic Haploxeroll soils with an elevation of about 1400 m. When the pasture was converted into cultivation, soil organic matter (SOM) pool of cultivated lands for a depth of 0–20 cm were significantly reduced by, on average 49% relative to SOM content of the pasture lands. There was no significant difference in SOM between the depths in each land-use type, and SOM values of the forest and pasture lands were almost similar. There was also a significant change in soil bulk density (BD) among cultivation (1.33 Mg m⁻³), pasture (1.19 Mg m⁻³), and forest (1.25 Mg m⁻³) soils at depth of 0–20 cm. Only for the pasture, BD of the depth of 0–10 cm was significantly different from that of 10–20 cm. Depending upon the increases in BD and disruption of pores by cultivation, total porosity decreased accordingly. Cultivation of the unaltered pasture obviously increased the soil erodibility measured by USLE-K factor for each soil depth, and USLE-K factor was approximately two times greater in the cultivated land than in the pasture indicating the vulnerability of the cultivated land to water erosion. The mean weight diameter (MWD) and water-stable aggregation (WSA) were greater in the pasture and forest soils compared to the cultivated soils, and didn’t change with the depth for each land-use type. Aggregates of >4.0 mm size were dominant in the pasture and forest soils, whereas the cultivated soils comprised aggregates of the size ≤0.5 mm. I found that samples collected from cultivated land gave the lowest saturated hydraulic conductivity values regardless of soil depths, whereas the highest values were measured on samples from forest soils. In conclusion, the results showed that the cultivation of the pastures degraded the soil physical properties, leaving soils more susceptible to the erosion. This suggests that land disturbances should be strictly avoided in the pastures with the limited soil depth in the southern Mediterranean highlands.     

Analysis of the influence of gully erosion in the flow pattern of catchment streams, Southeastern Brazil

The baseflow of tributaries to the Velhas River in the northwest region of Ouro Preto County (São Francisco Basin, Brazil) has been declining in the last years, without a simultaneous decrease in the water input. This can only be attributed to badly planned human activities, which result in soil crusting or compaction, erosion, among other types of impact, such as groundwater overexploitation and wetland drainage. Almost all of the study area has been eroded by hundreds of large-size gullies. In order to analyze the influence of erosion in the hydrological behavior of small streams, two similar and contiguous catchments were selected. The only remarkable difference between them is a gully that occupies circa 42% of one of the catchments (“eroded catchment”). Rainfall, flow rates and chemical data were obtained throughout a hydrological year and the results showed that the eroded catchment presented smaller baseflow rates and bigger but short-lived stormflows. This contrasting flow regime is attributed to the gully, which is causing the partial withdraw of the regolith and the exposure of weathered rock. As the regolith has smaller hydraulic conductivities and higher storage coefficients, the exposure of weathered rock on the gully floor explains the odd flow behavior of the eroded catchment. Other studies in the same region confirm the impact caused by the gullies. Thus, the superposition of many gullies can cause decrease of the baseflow and increase of the stormflow. As gullies are very common erosion features in Brazil, they should be much more studied in order to better understand this and other similar types of environmental impact.     

Improving precision in sediment source and erosion process distinction in an upland catchment,south-eastern Australia

Analysis of sediment sources is an important component in the development of catchment sediment budgets and in determining links between erosion from sources and sediment delivery to catchment outlets. In this study ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_ex were used to determine surface and sub-surface source contributions of fine sediment in a small upland headwater catchment (1.6 km²) in south-eastern Australia. The findings from this analysis are employed in an adjustment procedure to better differentiate sediment source erosion processes by utilising channel survey and erosion pin data. This improved the precision of estimates of sediment-source erosion-process contributions from hillslopes and channel/gully walls. A mean of 74% of in-channel deposits and suspended sediment exiting the study catchment was derived from sub-surface sources and when adjusted for erosion process this increased to 81%, which may be attributed to channel and gully wall erosion alone. Net erosion of the channel floor was low and constitutes only a small part of the total channel source input to sediment flux. Variability in sediment source contributions within the catchment was high, with rapid transition from hillslope to channel source dominance of sediment flux with distance downstream in the study catchment.     

Multi-parameter fingerprinting of sediment deposition in a small gullied catchment in SE Australia

The determination of relative contributions of potential sediment sources is an important step in the development of management strategies to combat soil erosion. In a 1.2 km² gullied catchment in southeastern New South Wales, multi-parameter fingerprinting of sediment deposited in successive downstream pools has identified gully walls as the dominant sediment source when the grazed pasture surface was the only other potential source. The median fractional contributions remained relatively steady in the successive downstream pools, with the gully walls responsible for between 90% and 98% of the pool sediment. This result was achieved despite the ratio of the source areas varying considerably between successive nested subareas. Reliability bounds on the predictions, accounting for limited sampling of sources, were well constrained and varied between 5.4% and 13.8%. Downstream of an unsealed road crossing, sediment from the road source dominated the pool sediments such that contributions from the pasture surface and gully sources could not be determined.     

Land use change and gully formation over the last 200 years in a hilly catchment

Gully erosion can be widely observed on cultivated hillslopes in Hungary. Loose sediments covering two thirds of the total area of the country are prone to gully erosion.A detailed study of gully formation was carried out in the Rakaca catchment (58 km²), northeastern Hungary. The objectives include (1) a detailed survey of the present gullies, (2) an explanation of differences in gully distribution within the catchment, (3) clarification of the role of influencing factors like slope gradient, vegetation cover and soil type and (4) a study of changes of gully distribution and development in time over the last 200 years based on the comparison of topographic maps.The present gully distribution was first surveyed by applying 1:10 000 topographic maps and aerial photographs. The total length of the network is 70.9 km, i.e. 1.22 km/km². Distribution inhomogeneities within the catchment can well be explained by differences in slope gradient and vegetation cover.The rate of increase of the gully length per unit area (1 km²) calculated for different time periods shows the following trends: (1) until 1860, when more than 50% of the catchment was forested, it was 5 m year⁻¹ km⁻²; (2) between 1860 and 1920, when forest area dropped to almost 25% and agricultural land use was extended to slopes steeper than 25%, it still remained at roughly 5 m year⁻¹ km⁻²; (3) after 1920, with 24–25% forest cover and with the extension of farming activity to the steepest slopes, it reached 10 m year⁻¹ km⁻².It could be shown that gully erosion on cultivated slopes leads to the development of gully systems in 50–60 years even if slope gradient is below 12%.To prevent further development of gully systems, it is suggested that at least 30% of the area should be forested and slopes steeper than 17% should not be cultivated at all.     

Sediment budget for subalpine watersheds,Lake Tahoe,California, USA

Pinpointing erosional ‘hot spots’ or sediment source areas within a watershed can be difficult because of the highly non-linear and episodic nature of effective runoff and sediment transport. Continuous monitoring of stream networks can provide insight into sediment source areas not possible from routine sampling by capturing episodic events and integrating entire storm events. This paper presents the results of a three-year study of spring snowmelt runoff in watersheds of Lake Tahoe, California, USA, using a network of nine nephelometric turbidometers. We estimate that montane badlands, comprising 1.2% of the Ward Creek watershed (25 km²), contributed 10–39% of snowmelt-derived suspended sediment load. The badlands are comprised of poorly-vegetated and deeply-incised gullies formed in parent material of Miocene volcanic mudflow breccia. The larger (29.5 km²) Blackwood Creek watershed also showed high relative erosion rates from volcanic terrain. Tributaries draining forested granitic and metasedimentary headwater regions had minimal sediment loads. Monitoring networks indicated that temporary main channel storage regulated release of fine sediment eroded from steep headwater slopes. This lag between erosion and delivery may lead to underestimation of gully erosion contribution to sediment budgets.     

A strategy for fine sediment retention with bioengineering works in eroded marly catchments in a mountainous mediterranean climate (Southern ALPS,France)

In eroded catchments in mountainous and Mediterranean‐type ecosystems, erosion can be responsible for high yields of fine sediment at the exit of catchments, which can cause different types of damage such as reservoir silting or ecological pollution. To avoid this sediment transport, low‐cost rehabilitation actions such as involving bioengineering techniques within small gullies can be used to trap and retain eroded materials before they reach the catchment exit. Based on current results of research carried out in the French Southern Alps, a specific strategy for such interventions is proposed, with rules for bioengineering structure use and methods for determining priority actions. This strategy for fine sediment retention with bioengineering works is currently being applied on eroded marly catchments in the French Southern Alps, in a mountainous Mediterranean climate. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of gully dimensions and sediment texture from southeast Australia for catchment sediment budgeting

Catchment scale sediment budgeting models are increasingly being used to target remediation works aimed at controlling erosion and improving water quality. Gully erosion is often a major sediment source and needs to be accounted for in such models in a manner consistent with the scale of analysis and available data. Using 130 measurements of gully cross-sectional area and 45 measurements of gully wall sediment texture, the variability in gully dimensions and particle size distribution for the Lake Burragorang catchment in Australia is examined. The distribution of gully cross-sectional area measurements is log-normally distributed and modelling indicates a representative value of 23 m² be used in catchment sediment budgeting applications. The proportion of gully eroded sediment contributing to the bedload budget (defined as particles > 63 μm diameter) of a river link is approximately half, though may be higher in igneous landscapes. A continental scale spatially distributed subsoil texture dataset provided limited capacity to predict the finer scale spatial variation in the proportion of sediment contributing to bedload from gully erosion within the Lake Burragorang catchment.     

Runoff Development and Soil Erosion in a Wet Tropical Montane Setting under Coffee Cultivation

The western interior portions of Puerto Rico offer optimal climatic conditions for coffee cultivation. However, land and water degradation result when abrupt topographic relief and high annual rainfall combine with forest conversion for coffee farming. Small‐scale rainfall simulation experiments were conducted to quantify runoff and erosion from four land surface types (i.e., mulched, weed‐covered, and bare soils under active cultivation, and unpaved roads) representative of coffee farms in Puerto Rico. Results show that mulch‐covered soils had runoff coefficients similar to those from undisturbed forested conditions (~4%), and that they eroded at rates about a quarter of those for bare cultivated soils. Weed‐covered soils had surprisingly high runoff coefficients (~70%), yet their erosion rates were only three‐fourths of those for bare soils. Annualized erosion rates from unpaved roads were 65 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, or ten times greater than bare soils and about a hundred times higher than weed‐ or mulch‐covered surfaces. Farm‐scale sediment production estimates amount to ~11 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, about two‐orders of magnitude higher than under forested conditions. At the farm‐scale, only 2 – 8% of the total sediment is potentially attributable to cultivated hillslopes. In contrast, unpaved roads may account for over 90% of the sediment budget, even though they comprise only 15% of the farm surface area. Therefore, while providing mulch or a vegetative cover to bare cultivated soils should be part of effective soil management, mitigating the effects of coffee cultivation on downstream water resources must focus on the unpaved road network as the primary sediment source. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于SWAT模型的大伙房水库汇水区径流与泥沙模拟

采用SWAT模型,在GIS技术和流域基础信息数据库的支持下,对研究区径流和泥沙进行了模拟研究,利用2006—2009年的日径流和泥沙监测数据对模型进行了校准和验证,验证结果表明SWAT模型适用于研究区。结果表明:区内土壤侵蚀强度以微度为主,年均泥沙量为15.395万t;不同土地利用方式下的土壤侵蚀模数不同,耕地土壤侵蚀模数最大为475.84t/(km2.a),泥沙量占总量的94.4%,且季节性较强,在7月、8月的产沙量占全年总量的67.9%;年均入库水量和入库泥沙分别为10.899亿m3、8.265万t,其中浑河流域贡献率最大,其次为苏子河流域。本研究揭示了辽宁省主要城市供水水源的大伙房水库汇水区水土流失规律,为水土保持和面源污染防治提供了重要基础支持。     

Rill and gully development during an extreme winter runoff event in Norway

Erosion on agricultural fields in Norway has earlier been reported to be mainly sheet and minor rill erosion. Exceptional rainfall events during January and February (230% of 30 years monthly mean) in 1990 led to extreme runoff and widespread erosion also on areas normally not considered to have a high erosion risk. This study presents the results of a field survey in three counties where rills and ephemeral gullies were measured after this event. Shifting weather conditions with freezing and thawing had given frozen subsoil. Topsoil conditions varied from ice- and snow-covered surface to thawed surface with frozen subsoil. In one of the areas with a high clay content, only the upper topsoil layer was unfrozen during this event. Extended sheet erosion and smaller rills occurred. In the southernmost locations, more of the topsoil profile was unfrozen. Combined with a high silt/sand content, more severe rilling and ephemeral gullies developed. Gullies developed down to the depth of the drainpipes in all locations. This erosion equals soil losses of more than 100 tons ha⁻¹ or 8–9 mm soil lost from the entire field area. Different mechanisms for gully development were registered. Gullies developed as enlarged rills with headward migration and sidewall sloughing. Knickpoints in the slope could also lead to gully development. Concentrated water flow entering the field from farmyards, roads, neighbouring fields and woods could be the starting point for uncontrolled rilling and ephemeral gullying. The combination of frozen subsoil, saturated soil with low strength and intense rainfall led to gully development also on areas with gentle slopes, especially sandy soils. Management practices like crop cover, tillage and lack of surface water control highly influenced the development of gullies.     

基于不同模型不同指纹因子的东北黑土区小流域泥沙来源分析

基于指纹识别技术计算了东北黑土区典型小流域不同侵蚀产沙源地的泥沙贡献比。通过分析农地、林地、草地表层土以及侵蚀沟样品中的33种物质,使用非参数检验和多元判别分析筛选出包括P、Ce、Ga、Rb和137Cs组成的最优复合指纹因子,并将放射性核素137Cs和210Pbex作为第2组指纹因子,将最优复合指纹因子中的单个因子分别作为单因子,作为第3组指纹因子,分别利用多元混合线性模型、Bayesian模型和单因子解析解等泥沙来源指纹分析方法计算了表层土和侵蚀沟的相对泥沙贡献比。结果表明:基于不同模型不同指纹因子的泥沙来源贡献比结果虽不尽相同,但无重大差别。利用多元混合线性模型计算时,由放射性元素137Cs和210Pbex作为指纹因子计算的泥沙来源(表层土47.5%,侵蚀沟52.5%),与最优复合指纹因子计算的泥沙来源(表层土44.6%,侵蚀沟55.4%)基本一致;利用Bayesian模型计算时,由放射性元素137Cs和210Pbex作为指纹因子计算的表层土和侵蚀沟的泥沙贡献比约各占1/2,而利用最优复合指纹因子计算得到的泥沙贡献比中,表层土(58.8%)多于侵蚀沟(41.2%);以复合指纹因子中单个因子为指纹因子计算解析解,P、Ga、Ce、137Cs 4个因子的判别能力较强,能有效判别泥沙物源区;为保证泥沙贡献比计算结果的精确性,有必要确定各模型的计算精度,并挖掘具体的影响因素,调整参数或算法,为模型改进提供依据。研究发现,面积占比不足1%的侵蚀沟贡献了流域近1/2的泥沙,表明侵蚀沟发育引起的土壤流失不容小觑,应加强对该区侵蚀沟道的治理。     

Fingerprinting sediment sources in the outlet reservoir of a hilly cultivated catchment in Tunisia

Purpose

Approximately 74 % of agricultural soils in Tunisia are affected by water erosion, leading to the siltation of numerous human-made reservoirs and therefore a loss of water storage capacity. The objective of this study was to propose a methodology for estimating the relative contributions of gully/channel bank erosion and surface topsoil erosion to the sediment accumulated in small reservoirs.

Materials and methods

We tested an approach based on the sediment fingerprinting technique for sediments collected from a reservoir (which has been in operation since 1994) at the outlet of a catchment (Kamech, 2.63 km²). Sampling concentrated on the soil surface (in both cropland and grassland), gullies and channel banks. A total of 17 sediment cores were collected along a longitudinal transect of the Kamech reservoir to investigate the origin of the sediment throughout the reservoir. Radionuclides (particularly caesium-137, ¹³⁷Cs) and nutrients (total phosphorus, total nitrogen and total organic carbon (TOC)) were analysed as potential tracers.

Results and discussion

The applications of a mixing model with ¹³⁷Cs alone or ¹³⁷Cs and TOC provided very similar results: The dominant source of sediment was surface erosion, which was responsible for 80 % of the total erosion within the Kamech catchment. Additionally, we showed that the analysis of a single composite core provided information on the sediment origin that was consistent with the analysis of all sediment layers in the core. We demonstrated the importance of the core sampling location within the reservoir for obtaining reliable information regarding sediment sources and the dominant erosion processes.

Conclusions

The dominance of surface erosion processes indicates that conservation farming practices are required to mitigate erosion in the agricultural Kamech catchment. Based on the results from 17 sediment cores, guidelines regarding the number and location of sampling cores to be collected for sediment fingerprinting are proposed. We showed that the collection of two cores limited the sediment source apportionment uncertainty due to the core sampling scheme to <10 %.     

USE OF RESERVOIR DEPOSITS AND CAESIUM-137 MEASUREMENTS TO INVESTIGATE THE EROSIONAL RESPONSE OF A SMALL DRAINAGE BASIN IN THE ROLLING LOESS PLATEAU REGION OF CHINA

This paper reports the results of an investigation of the erosional response of the 3·86 km² Zhaojia Gully catchment in the rolling loess plateau region of Zichan County, Shaanxi Province, China. In the absence of direct measurements, information derived from reservoir deposits and from caesium-137 measurements on both the catchment soils and reservoir deposits was used to obtain a retrospective assessment of the longer-term (ca. 30 year) erosional response of the catchment and of the relative contributions of the rolling plateau surface and the gully areas to the sediment output from the basin. Net erosion rates on cultivated land occupying the gentle crest slopes and steeper lower slopes of the rolling plateau and the steep gully slopes were estimated to be 4500 t km⁻² year⁻¹, 8584 t km⁻² year⁻¹ and 15851 t km⁻² year⁻¹, respectively. Estimates of annual sediment yield from the study catchment based on analysis of sediment deposits in the two sediment-trap reservoirs ranged between 4627 and 32472 t km⁻² year⁻¹. Almost all the sediment transported from the catchment was contributed by 2–4 large floods each year. Measurements of the caesium-137 content of recent sediment deposits in a sediment-trap reservoir allowed the relative contributions of the total sediment yield derived from the rolling plateau and gully areas of the catchment to be estimated at 23 and 77 per cent, respectively. Analysis of the sediment deposits dating from 1973–1977 in another sediment trap reservoir allowed individual flood event couplets to be identified and indicated that the sediment associated with the first one or two floods in a season, when the soils of the plateau area were relatively dry, was derived primarily from the gully areas. The cultivated soils of the rolling plateau contributed an increased proportion of the total sediment yield during the latter stages of the flood season when the soils were wetter, and surface runoff and erosion were more widespread. Based on analysis of the caesium-137 content of the sediment deposited in this sediment-trap reservoir, the relative contributions of sediment from the rolling plateau and gully areas over the period 1973–1977 were estimated to be 21 and 79 per cent, respectively. The results obtained demonstrate the potential for using caesium-137 measurements and analysis of reservoir deposits to document the erosional response of a drainage basin. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Land‐use evolution and degradation in Lesvos (Greece): a historical approach

An analysis has been undertaken of the land‐use evolution in the island of Lesvos for the last 5000 years, based on historical and archaeological documents and recent soil and vegetation survey data. A series of maps were compiled using historical documents for the period from 3300 bc to 1886 bc and vegetation field survey data for the period from 1886–1996. A soil survey (scale 1:50 000) was conducted in 1996 in order to relate the land‐use changes to the present physical environment. Cultivation of the land started around 3300 bc and intensified during the 18th century bc . During the Roman period forests were already significantly reduced to satisfy the increasing demands for agricultural products, timber and heating. In the Byzantine period (4th–15th century), vineyards and pastures expanded, mainly by clearing the forests. Olive plantations increased during the 13th century, motivated by the allocation of subsidies. During the first centuries of the Ottoman period, there was a further expansion of olive groves and pastures by reducing forests, while vineyards declined. Great changes occurred in the last century in the geographical distribution and the total area occupied by the various types of land use. Olive groves significantly expanded and were redistributed covering more fertile and productive land on hilly areas by clearing mainly pine forests. Oak forests increased on previous pasture areas. Today, pasture is the main type of land use in hilly areas. These previously forested areas have been cleared without any accompanying measures against soil erosion. This highly degraded land with shallow and severely eroded soils is not able to sustain any profitable agricultural use or natural forest. However, areas cultivated with olives remained sustainable for more than seven centuries without being significantly degraded. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于SWAT模型的径流与土壤侵蚀过程模拟

将可表征土地利用变化对水文响应影响的分布式水文模型SWAT应用于密云水库潮河子流域,对模型的敏感性进行了分析,并采用1986～1991年下会水文站数据对其径流量和泥沙负荷进行了率定和验证,模型评估结果表明该模型对径流的模拟效果非常好,对泥沙的模拟效果较好。通过计算34个子流域内的侵蚀模数,对流域内的土壤侵蚀强度进行了分级,并分析了不同土地利用方式对产沙的影响。结果表明,流域内的土壤侵蚀主要发生在农田,为保障密云水库的水质应对其采取有效的水土保持措施。     

Establishing sediment budgets for two small lowland agricultural catchments in the UK

Sediment budgets have been established for two small (<4 km²), lowland, agricultural catchments, by using ¹³⁷Cs measurements, sediment source fingerprinting and more traditional monitoring techniques to quantify the individual components of the budget. The gross and net erosion rates for the fields on the catchment slopes were estimated using ¹³⁷Cs measurements within selected fields, which encompassed a representative range of slope angles, slope lengths and land use. These estimates were extrapolated over the entire catchment, using a simple topographically driven soil erosion model (Terrain-Based GIS, TBGIS) superimposed on a DEM, to derive catchment average gross and net erosion rates. Suspended sediment yields were measured at the catchment outlets and sediment source fingerprinting techniques were used to establish the relative contributions from the catchment surface, subsurface tile drains and eroding channel banks to the sediment yields. In-channel and wetland storage were quantified using both direct measurements and ¹³⁷Cs measurements. The sediment budgets established for the catchments highlighted the importance of subsurface tile drains as a pathway for sediment transfer, accounting for ca. 60% and 30% of the sediment output from the two catchments. Erosion from channel banks contributed ca. 10% and 6% of the sediment output from the two catchments. Although the suspended sediment yields from these catchments were considered high by UK standards (ca. 90 t km⁻² year⁻¹), the sediment delivery ratios ranged between 14% and 27%, indicating that a major proportion of the mobilised sediment was stored within the catchments. In-field and field-to-channel storage were shown to be of similar magnitude, but storage of sediment in the channel system and associated wetlands was relatively small, representing <5% of the annual suspended sediment yield.     

Morphological Similarity of Channels: From Linear Erosional Features (Rill,Gully) to Alpine Rivers

The geometric characteristics of incised features such as channels, rills, ephemeral gully, gully, represent the erosional transport regime and the fluvial dynamic equilibrium, and thus it is critical for the understanding of the long‐term evolution of natural, agricultural, and anthropogenic landscapes. This paper examines the morphological similarity of channelized erosion in two different environments such as Alpine landscapes and cultivated hillslopes. The first dataset comprises six rivers in the Italian Alps, three in the Carnia region and three in the Dolomites, where erosion is mainly the effect of discharges with high sediment loads or landslides and debris flows. The agricultural areas dataset includes rills, ephemeral gullies, and gullies surveyed in literature. This research highlights that the eroded volume in Alpine rivers is in line with that of agricultural landscapes or badlands around the world. Dolomites rivers of colluvial origin, flowing on soils that are not particularly deep and subject to natural disaggregation, tend to behave similarly to ephemeral gullies. Contrarily, channels that exhibit evident alluvial morphologies and coarse grain sizes are more similar to gully erosion. At different spatial scales, the results demonstrated that length–volume equations calibrated on rills, ephemeral gullies, gullies and badlands, might be feasible also for Alpine channels. The research areas present soils and bedrock lithology that differs from those in literature, thus suggesting that the morphology of linear erosion is independent of the intrinsic soil characteristics. Differences emerged between Dolomites and Carnia rivers: this highlights the importance of taking into account in future analyses other forcing factors (e.g. climate) on land degradation processes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.