Effects of vegetation and rainfall types on surface runoff and soil erosion on steep slopes on the Loess Plateau, China

Chen, Hao; Zhang, Xiaoping; Abla, Muratjan; Lü, Du; Yan, Rui; Ren, Qingfu; Ren, Zhiyong Jason; Yang, Yahui; Zhao, Wenshuo; Lin, Pengfei; Liu, Baoyuan; Yang, Xihua

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2018.06.006

Cited by 216 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…More than 200,000 km 2 was cultivated land in 2015, caused severe soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. The reason of average soil erosion modules decreased not only vegetation restoration, but also the implication of soil and water conservation projects, such as terrace and check dam [55,56]. Additionally, LUCC has an important negative impact on ecosystems at different spatial scales, caused service problem on the Loess Plateau, such as vegetation degradation, declining ecological stability and an imbalance of water resources [22,27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Restoration and Its Environmental Effects on the Loess Plateau

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2018

Sustainability

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An analysis of land use/cover change (LUCC) on the Loess Plateau over the past 30 years and its environmental effects was performed to provide scientific guidance for a sustainable development policy for the regional ecological environment and social economy. Geostatistical and trend analyses are used to study the LUCC characteristics, driving forces and environmental effects, and the relationship between LUCC and regional sustainable development is explored. The following results were obtained: (1) Overall, the land use structure has not changed, with grassland, farmland, and forest land remaining dominant; however, the vegetation coverage has significantly increased, especially in the central area.(2) LUCC is affected by climate change and human activities, with greater climate change impacts in the northwest than the southeast and greater among which human-induced impacts on the hilly/gully region in the central part. (3) LUCC will produce long-term ecological and environmental processes, such as surface runoff, soil erosion, soil moisture and carbon cycling. Vegetation restoration has both negative and positive effects on the regional ecological environment. Vegetation productivity on the Loess Plateau has approached the water resource carrying capacity threshold. Therefore, improving artificial vegetation stability and promoting the water resources balance have become the main strategies for promoting sustainable development on the Loess Plateau.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Restoration and Its Environmental Effects on the Loess Plateau

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2018

Sustainability

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“…Q v can be plotted in order to visualize that Equation (3) produced inconsistent runoff prediction results, where it over predicted runoff when rainfall was less than 16 mm and more than 36 mm (see Figure 3) but under predicted the runoff amount when rainfall depth was between 16 mm and 36 mm. Equation (14) achieved an Adj R 2 near to 1.0 and low standard error of the estimate (0.053 mm) with statistical significance (p < 0.001) to correct and improve the runoff prediction results of Equation (3). As such, Equation (14) can be amended to Equation (3) to improve the runoff prediction accuracy of Equation (3), as shown in Equation (15).…”

Section: Residual Modeling and The Corrected Equationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Accurate direct surface runoff is essential for water resources' planning and development to reduce the occurrence of sedimentation and flooding at their downstream areas [1][2][3]. The simpler hydrological model under the law of parsimony with the least required input parameters and superior predictive model performance is preferable by many researchers [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Calibrated, Watershed-Specific SCS-CN Method: Application to Wangjiaqiao Watershed in the Three Gorges Area, China

Ling

Yusop

Yap

et al. 2019

Water

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The Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method is one of the most popular methods used to compute runoff amount due to its few input parameters. However, recent studies challenged the inconsistent runoff results obtained by the method which set the initial abstraction ratio λ as 0.20. This paper developed a watershed-specific SCS-CN calibration method using non-parametric inferential statistics with rainfall-runoff data pairs. The proposed method first analyzed the data and generated confidence intervals to determine the optimum values for SCS-CN model calibration. Subsequently, the runoff depth and curve number were calculated. The proposed method outperformed the runoff prediction accuracy of the asymptotic curve number fitting method, linear regression model and the conventional SCS-CN model with the highest Nash-Sutcliffe index value of 0.825, the lowest residual sum of squares value of 133.04 and the lowest prediction error. It reduced the residual sum of squares by 66% and the model prediction errors by 96% when compared to the conventional SCS-CN model. The estimated curve number was 72.28, with the confidence interval ranging from 62.06 to 78.00 at a 0.01 confidence interval level for the Wangjiaqiao watershed in China.

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“…The Re is a dimensionless number that is used to define flow regimes. The Re on vegetated slopes could be calculated using the following equation: v uR  Re (4) Bare slope:…”

Section: (3) Reynolds Numbermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overland flow passing through vegetation on hillslopes has been extensively studied, both experimentally and numerically, due to its remarkable roles in the transportation of nutrients, contaminants, and sediment loads [1][2][3]; therefore, this factor is widely used in soil erosion control and stream ecological restoration [4]. Arbor and shrub tress, which are usually arranged in strip, patch and block patterns [5], can effectively control erosion on hill slopes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of Overland Flow through Rigid Emergent Vegetation with Different Densities and Location Arrangements

Wang

Zhang

Yang

et al. 2018

Water

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The effect of vegetation density on overland flow dynamics has been extensively studied, yet fewer investigations have focused on vegetation arrangements with different densities and position features. Flume experiments were conducted to investigate the hydrodynamics of flow through rigid emergent vegetation arranged in combinations with three densities (Dense, Middle, and Sparse) and three positions (summit, backslope, and footslope). This study focused on how spatial variations regulated hydrodynamic parameters from two dimensions: direction along the slope and water depth. The total hydrodynamic parameters of bare slopes were significantly different from those of vegetated slopes. The relationship between Re and f illustrated that Re was not a unique predictor of hydraulic roughness on vegetated slopes. In the slope direction, all hydrodynamic parameters on vegetated slopes exhibited fluctuating downward/upward trends due to the clocking effect before the vegetated area and the rapid conveyance effect in the vegetated area, whereas constant values were observed on bare slopes. The performance of hydrodynamics parameters suggested that the dense rearward arrangement (SMD) was the optimal vegetation pattern to regulate flow conditions. Specifically, the vertical profiles of the velocity and turbulence features of the SMD arrangement at different sections demonstrated the significant role of vegetation density in identifying the velocity layers along the water depth. The maximum velocity and Reynolds Stress Number (RSN) indicated the position where local scour was most likely to occur, which would improve our basic understanding of the mechanisms underlying hydraulic and soil erosion processes.Thus, determining the optimum conditions for flow within vegetated slopes is vital for water and soil conservation and control.To understand the mechanisms underlying the hydraulic and soil erosion processes on vegetated hillslopes, hydrodynamic characteristics, which were mainly quantified by hydraulic parameters, e.g., water depth, mean velocity, flow pattern and resistance, kinetic energy and momentum distributions were considered as fundamental variables [6,7]. The hydrodynamic effects of emergent vegetation have been widely investigated in controlled laboratory experiments. In previous studies, well-defined rigid cylinder rods were assumed to represent an appropriate model for groups and trees or reeds and to generate accurate representations of the geometric characteristics [8]; thus, this method has been utilized as vegetation stems in numerous laboratory studies [7]. Generally, vegetation promotes the water depth [9], slows down the flow [10,11], enhances flow resistance [12], raises energy and momentum coefficients [13], attenuates the turbulence intensity [14], and promotes diffusion and deposition processes [15]. Dunkerley et al. [16] pointed out that plants could stabilize the flow state as laminar flow, whereas Hamilton et al. [17] stated that mixed flow states occurred on vegetated slopes. The definition of t...

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Effects of vegetation and rainfall types on surface runoff and soil erosion on steep slopes on the Loess Plateau, China

Cited by 216 publications

References 59 publications

Vegetation Restoration and Its Environmental Effects on the Loess Plateau

Vegetation Restoration and Its Environmental Effects on the Loess Plateau

A Calibrated, Watershed-Specific SCS-CN Method: Application to Wangjiaqiao Watershed in the Three Gorges Area, China

Experimental Study of Overland Flow through Rigid Emergent Vegetation with Different Densities and Location Arrangements

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