Assessment of soil erosion differences in paired grassland and
forestland catchments using RUSLE and GIS on the Chinese Loess Plateau
Abstract
In this study, two neighboring catchments on the Chinese Loess Plateau
were selected, in which one catchment was restored with natural
vegetation and the other was afforested over 60 years. The spatial and
temporal distributions of the soil erosion modulus between 2010 and 2020
were formulated with a spatial resolution of 2 m in the paired
catchments based on the revised universal soil loss equation and
geographic information system. The results showed that the average soil
erosion modulus in 2010-2020 was 12.58 and 8.56 t ha
-1 a -1 for the grassland and
forestland catchments, respectively. Areas with high soil erosion rates
(> 80 t ha -1 a -1)
were mainly distributed in the topography of the middle transition zone
with a steep slope gradient (> 45°). Moreover, the average
annual rainfall erosivity for the grassland and forestland catchments in
2010-2020 was 1628 and 1851 MJ mm/ (ha ·h ·a), respectively. In this
study, the forestland catchment showed high rainfall erosivity and a low
soil erosion rate. We conclude that a dense cover of trees and
understory in the gully of the forestland catchment played a crucial
role in controlling soil loss. This study fills a gap in mapping the
spatial distribution of soil erosion with high-resolution data and
provides a reference for soil conservation and water management at the
catchment scale.