Spatial Estimation Of Soil Erosion And Land Use Regulation

Soil erosion by water is one of the most important natural resources management problems in the world. In order to estimate soil erosion by water, particularly for the high-erosion areas, and provide decision support for soil conservation planning, this research integrates the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation(RUSLE) with Remote Sensing(RS) and a Geographic Information System(GIS) to model erosion potential within Wu’an city, Hebei province. Considering that mountainous topography and a seasonal precipitation regime characterize this region, there is a need to modify the standard RUSLE factors and their derivation for these unique climatic and topographic characteristics. Data used in this study to generate the RUSLE parameters involve remotely sensed satellite images, digital topographic and soil distribution maps, and tabular precipitation data. On this basis, soil erosion potential was modeled and estimated for 1995, 2003 and 2010 within Wu’an city. The model output results are presented as geo-referenced maps for each of years. These maps reveal that high areas of soil loss occur, and that the obvious variation characteristics of erosion potential between different years. Meanwhile, the causes of soil erosion and change trend were analyzed. Results show that:(1) The rate of soil loss and the percent of high-erosion areas both present a tendency of rise first then fall.(2) As for spatial distribution on soil erosion, erosion risk in central region is at low level, the high-risk areas are mainly located in the northwest and southwest, where is on the border of low-mountain and rill region. There shows obviously positive correlation between elevation and soil erosion.(3) Topography and geomorphology are complex and various, weathering intensity of soil is high, the resistance to soil erosion is poor, meanwhile, the urbanization is constantly advanced, and industrial enterprises and mining industries are greatly developed, which make natural factor and effects of human activities the driving force for soil erosion in the study area.Based on the spatial difference of soil erosion, natural factors in the region such as topography and geomorphology, hydrologic condition, soil type and land use patterns, meanwhile, the aim of domain integrity, land use regionalization within Wu’an city was eventually explored. In view of regional own characteristics, the main directions for land use in future and regulation measures were proposed in order to the improvement of the eco-environment, sustainability of land use and reduction of soil erosion.