Identification of Critical Source Areas for Soil Erosion in a Small Watershed of Loess Plateau Based on SWAT Model
Soil conservation practices are widely used to reduce soil erosion. Due to the high cost associated with implementation of conservation practices, it is essential to conduct the practices over areas where they are needed the most. Critical source areas (CSAs), characterized by severe soil erosion and high sediment yield, are considered to have a high priority for conservation. How to identify the CSAs is to the centre of the effective and efficient implementation of soil conservation practices. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is a useful tool to identify the critical source areas. However, most of these studies delineate the CSAs on subbasin-level which is coarse in the spatial scale. Loess Plateau is the most serious soil erosion areas in China even in the world. It is essential to conduct soil conservation practices to control soil erosion on detailed spatial scale. However, limited research work on identification of critical source area in the loess plateau has been reported. In this study, the SWAT model was applied to simulate the soil erosion and then to identify the critical source area based on the HRU-level in a small watershed of Losses Plateau. CSAs are identified based on the 6-year average yearly sediment yield of each HRU (Hydrological Response Units). The result shows that SWAT model can accurately simulate sediment yield in Loess plateau. The CSAs were mainly located in the slope farmland areas and steep gully area which is coincided with the distribution of land use and slope. The CSAs which occupied 10％ area of the watershed, contributed 30％ sediment yield to the watershed. Such a trend is more obvious under larger storms. This could come to the conclusion that the SWAT model could successfully identify the CSAs based on the HRUs-level in the Loess Plateau. CSAs concept could be a potential approach to assisting soil erosion control in Loess Plateau.
Soil conservation practices Critical source areas SWAT HRUs: Loess Plateau
Chen Lajiao Zhu A-Xing Qin Cheng-Zhi Liu Junzhi Wang Ping Li Runkui Cai Qiangguo
State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences
国际会议
西安
英文
717-721
2010-10-11（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）