Monitoring of soil erosion and assessment for contribution of sediments to rivers in a typical watershed of the Upper Yangtze River Basin

✍ Scribed by J. R. Fan; J. H. Zhang; X. H. Zhong; S. Z. Liu; H. P. Tao

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 377 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1085-3278
• DOI: 10.1002/ldr.622

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

An assessment of the effectiveness of soil conservation practices is very important for watershed management, but the measurement over a small area does not necessarily represent the truth over a large area. Monitoring of soil erosion and analysis of sediment delivery were carried out in the Lizixi watershed (which is typical of the Upper Yangtze Basin, China), using remote sensing and a geographic information system (GIS). Land‐use and land‐cover maps were prepared by an interpretation of 1986 and 1999 images from SPOT and Landsat TM. Slope‐gradient maps were created from digital elevation model (DEM), while merged images of SPOT and Landsat TM were used to obtain land‐use information. The area of soil erosion was classified by an integration of slope gradients, land‐use types and vegetation cover rates, and soil erosion rates and their changes were calculated in a grid‐based analysis using an Erdas GIS. The change in sediment delivery ratio was estimated based on the changes in soil erosion rates from both monitoring and the truth survey. There was a reduction in soil erosion rate of 4·22 per cent during a 13‐year period after soil conservation practices were adopted in the Lizixi watershed. The amount of sediments transported into rivers has decreased by 51·08 per cent during the same period due to an integrated application of biological and engineering measures. The comparison of soil erosion severity between pre‐conservation and post‐conservation revealed that soil loss has been obviously diminished and the measures were quite effective. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.