Soil erosion is a global environmental problem, and land-use changes have significantly altered soil erosion processes. However, soil erosion processes and their major influencing factors vary among different landforms. Dongzhiyuan (DZY), that is, the largest tableland in the Loess Plateau (LP), has experienced significant land-use changes in previous decades. However, little is known about impacts of land-use changes on soil erosion across different landforms in the DZY tableland. LANDSAT images from

We used the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data of the MODIS images in the Wei River Basin of the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2016 based on the support of RS/GIS technology. The results indicate that: (1) The vegetation cover in the Wei River Basin has accelerated and improved since 2000. Afterwards, the vegetation decreased slightly; (2) More than 90% of the area in the past 17 years showed vegetation restoration. The significant recovery area mainly accounted for 6.80% of the vegetation reduction area in the Ziwuling and Liupanshan areas, and was mainly attributed to the urbanization process. The acceleration of the results further confirms the remarkable achievements of the ecological restoration project on the Loess Plateau and provides theoretical support for regional sustainable development.

No abstract

No abstract

Soil erosion is an important environmental problem that threatens human ecological security and socioeconomic development. Unreasonable land use is one of the main causes of soil erosion. By collecting the topography, climate, soil, vegetation and satellite image data of Dongzhiyuan (DZY) in the tableland and gully region (TGR) of the Loess Plateau (LP), the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Chinese Soil Loss Equation (CSLE) models were used to simulate the soil erosion intensity in different periods (1987, 1997, 2007 and 2017). We found that under high rainfall erosivity factor (R), the soil erosion usually be overestimated in the RUSLE model. However, the result has been changed when we use the annual average R.Besides, the model of CSLE based on the RUSLE takes engineering measure factor (E) into account, making the results more reliable. Also, land use change will affect soil erosion. The conversion of urban to farmland and grassland will