Assessment of soil losses on cultivated land by using the Cs technique in the Upper Yangtze River Basin of China

This paper presents the results of using the ¹³⁷Cs technique to assess soil erosion rates of both sloping cultivated land and flat terraces in the Upper Yangtze River Basin, China. The study was carried out on eighteen sloping cultivated fields and four flat terrace fields in eight counties and cities over the eastern part of the basin. The ¹³⁷Cs-reference inventory ranged from 620.5 to 2573.2 Bq/m². For the 18 sloping cultivated fields, the average ¹³⁷Cs inventory over a field ranged from 204.9 to 1847.7 Bq/m², which accounts for 15–77% of the local ¹³⁷Cs reference inventory, and the average water erosion rate ranged from 758 to 9854 t/km² per year, with erosion rates of <1000 t/km² per year in two fields; 1000–5000 t/km² per year in eight fields; and >5000 t/km² per year in eight fields. It is apparent that most of the sloping cultivated fields suffer severe or very severe soil erosion. For the four terrace fields under this study, the average ¹³⁷Cs inventory over a field ranged between 915.8 and 2675.4 Bq/m², which accounts for 97–104% of the local ¹³⁷Cs reference inventory. However, water erosion is very slight on the terrace fields and little soil is lost from the terraces. The study also indicated that the severity of soil erosion is strongly related to soil texture and slope gradient.