Exploring soil erosion trajectories and their divergent responses to driving factors: a model-based contrasting study in
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Exploring soil erosion trajectories and their divergent responses to driving factors: a model-based contrasting study in highly eroded mountain areas Chong Jiang 1,2 & Zhiyuan Yang 3 & Minting Li 4 & Jialing Dai 1,2 & Xinchi Wang 5 & Haiyan Zhang 6 & Long Yang 1,2 & Lingling Zhao 1,2 & Meili Wen 1,2 & Ping Zhou 1,2 Received: 21 June 2020 / Accepted: 16 November 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Soil erosion threatens environmental sustainability worldwide. Exploring the trajectories of soil erosion and associated drivers is of great significance for combating land degradation. This study selected the highly eroded Loess Plateau (LP) and Karst Plateau (KP) as contrasting regions to monitor soil erosion dynamics. Monitoring was performed by applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation based on a GIS platform and multi-source input data to investigate associated drivers. The results established that soil erosion in both regions was substantially reduced by ecological restoration projects and significant land use/cover conversions. Landscape and geomorphological variables were found to be the dominant factors controlling soil erosion in the LP and KP, as they influenced land use patches and geomorphological patterns, respectively. The correlations between fragmentation metric indices and soil erosion indicated that the appropriately intensive fragmentation in the LP could mitigate or prevent soil erosion by disturbing its formation and transportation and ultimately positively influenced soil erosion control. Geomorphological patterns were also determinative factors, particularly for the KP, where almost all geomorphological variables were significantly correlated with the erosion modulus. Owing to the peculiar landform and landscape conditions in karst areas and loess hilly–gully areas, geomorphological and landscape variables should be considered when determining the main factors affecting soil erosion processes and integrated into the forecasting model to improve the accuracy of the simulation. The findings of this study are expected to (i) improve the efficacy of soil erosion control and (ii) promote the sustainable planning and management of land and soil resources. Keywords Soil erosion . Driving factor . Landscape metric . Geomorphological variable . Divergent response
Responsible Editor: Kitae Baek * Lingling Zhao [email protected]
3
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
Chong Jiang [email protected]
4
College of Public Management, South China Agriculture University, Guangzhou 510642, People’s Republic of China
1
Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510070, People’s Republic of China
5
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, People’s Republic of China
2
Key Lab of Gua
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