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Assessment of soil erosion and sediment yield in Liao watershed, Jiangxi Province, China, Using USLE, GIS, and RS

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Abstract

Soil erosion by water is a serious problem all over the world. In China, about 1 790 000 km2 of land suffers from water erosion, which accounts for 18.3% of China’s total area. This study was conducted in the Liao (潦) watershed in Jiangxi (江西) Province to assess annual soil erosion and sediment yield using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). A geographic information system (GIS) was used to generate maps of the USLE factors, which include rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS), cover (C), and conservation practice (P) factors. By integrating these factors in a GIS, a spatial distribution of soil erosion over the Liao watershed was obtained. The soil erosion was found to vary from nil for flat and well-covered areas to more than 500 t/ha/a in mountainous places with sparse vegetation. The average soil erosion is 18.2 t/ha/a with a standard deviation of 109.3 t/ha/a. The spatial distribution of erosion classes was estimated. About 39.5% of the watershed is under the tolerant erosion rate, and 60.5% of the study area experienced erosion to different extents. A spatially distributed sediment delivery ratio (SDR) module was developed to account for soil erosion and deposition. It was found that the SDR value at the outlet of the Liao watershed was 0.206, and the sediment yield was 1.32 million t/a, which was 20% higher than the measured sediment. The results can be used to identify the soil erosion hot spots and develop the best soil erosion management practices and help estimate the quantity of soil that was transported into the downstream Poyang (鄱阳) Lake.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faulty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Li Hui  (李辉)

  2. Three Gorges Research Center for Geo-hazard, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Li Hui  (李辉)

  3. The Key Lab of Poyang Lake Ecological Environment and Resource Development, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China

    Chen Xiaoling  (陈晓玲)

  4. State Key Laboratory for Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Chen Xiaoling  (陈晓玲)

  5. Department of Agricultural Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Kangwon, 200-701, Korea

    Kyoung Jae Lim

  6. Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430077, China

    Cai Xiaobin  (蔡晓斌)

  7. Track & Civil Engineering Research Department, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Uiwang, Kyunggi-do, 437-050, Korea

    Myung Sagong

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  1. Li Hui  (李辉)
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  2. Chen Xiaoling  (陈晓玲)
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  3. Kyoung Jae Lim
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  4. Cai Xiaobin  (蔡晓斌)
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Correspondence to Li Hui  (李辉).

Additional information

This study was supported by China Technological Supporting Program (No. 2007BAC23B05), the Special Research Fund for Prevention of Geological Disasters in Three Gorges Reservoir Area (No. SXKY3-6-1), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2009CDB104), and the Opening Foundation of State Key Laboratory for Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University (No. (09)Key 01).

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Hui, L., Xiaoling, C., Lim, K.J. et al. Assessment of soil erosion and sediment yield in Liao watershed, Jiangxi Province, China, Using USLE, GIS, and RS. J. Earth Sci. 21, 941–953 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-010-0147-4

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