Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Runoff and sediment responses to rainfall intensity in different vegetation restoration stages on the Loess Plateau of China

Author(s):

J. Xu ¹, P. L. Liu ¹, N. N. Zhang ¹, L. F. Chen ²

Recieved Date: 2013-07-02, Accepted Date: 2013-09-20

Abstract:

Irrational land use is the main cause of severe soil erosion on the Loess Plateau of China. Vegetation and rainfall intensity are two important indexes for soil erosion processes. After the “Grain for Green” project was implemented, vegetation recovery has the great significance in reducing runoff and sediment. The purposes of this paper are to discuss the relationship during the rainfall intensity, runoff and sediment yields of bare land, grassland and shrub land under natural rainfall, and determine the differences of runoff and sediment yields of different stages of vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau. Three runoff plots were set up for the bare land, abandoned grassland and shrub land in the hilly and gully area of the Loess Plateau to probe into relationship between the rainfall intensity, runoff and sediment yields, as well as runoff and sediment reduction differences in different stages of vegetation restoration under natural rainfall condition. Results showed that compared with the grassland and shrub land, runoff and sediment yields from the bare land tended to increase significantly with increased rainfall intensity. The runoff yield from the grassland increased more than that from shrub land as the rainfall intensity increased. The sediment yield increments for the grassland and shrub land resulted from the shift of rainfall types appeared to be rather closer. Heavy rain and rainstorm are the main precipitation forms inducing severe soil erosion on Loess Plateau. Severe soil erosion can be induced if slope does not have sufficient vegetation coverage. Compared with the bare land, the runoff yields from the grassland and shrub land were reduced by 41.7% and 70.4% and the sediment yield by 94.5% and 97.7%, respectively. The runoff reduction benefit on the shrub land was better than that on the grassland, whereas the grassland had the same soil-conserving effect as the shrub land.

Keywords:

Rainfall intensity, runoff, sediment, restoration stage

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2013
Volume: 11
Issue: 3&4
Category: Environment
Pages: 1735-1738

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