Comparative rates of wind and water erosion on typical farmland at the northern end of the Loess Plateau, China

Contribution of wind and water erosion in the agricultural and pastoral areas of northern China based on 137Cs tracer technology

“…It is also lower than the 1:5 calculated by LinDegen (2022) using different models 15 , and much lower than the ratio of 1.8:1 in the middle valley of Baerdonggou as estimated by field survey, runoff plot observation, topographic survey, and "3S" technology.The large difference between the wind erosion and water erosion ratios in this study and those in previous studies is mainly due to the difference in wind erosion rates in the results of each study. The average wind erosion rate of 190 t km -2 a -1 for cropland derived from this study is similar to the average wind erosion rate of 120 t km -2 a -1 measured by the BSNE sand collector method in Jungar Banner in GUO (2019) 20 . However, some other studies derived wind erosion rates distributed between 100-2400 t km -2 a -1 , which are 8-10 times higher than the results of this study.…”

“…The different methods have their own advantages and disadvantages; the contribution of wind and water erosion can be easily calculated from the perspective of kinetic energy of erosion, but there is the problem of ignoring the differences due to microtopographic conditions and the nature of the subsurface. The advantage of field measurements is that they can accurately control the boundaries of the source area of water-eroded sediments, but it is difficult to determine the source area of wind-eroded materials in wind transport, which affects the accuracy of the amount of wind erosion per unit area 20,87 . The tracer method is a relatively mature method with relatively reliable accuracy, but it requires reasonable determination of the background value.…”

“…However, wind and water erosion composite processes are often an aspect that needs to be emphasized, and this study ignored the composite erosion process. Soil wind and water erosion processes sometimes do not occur independently, and in many cases interact with each other, and wind erosion can influence water erosion processes 20,98,100,101 . Wind erosion can also affect slope microgeomorphology, leading to the emergence of longitudinal gullies on eroded slopes, which can indirectly enhance the intensity of water erosion on slopes by affecting runoff 102,103,104,105 .…”

“…For instance, in a study conducted in the Liu dao gou sub-watershed of Shenmu County within the Loess Plateau, the total soil erosion of sloping cropland was estimated by using the Cs 137 tracer method, and water erosion was quantified by applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to extrapolate the amount of wind erosion [17][18][19] . Additionally, the Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) method has been employed to assess the rate of wind and water erosion, along with the use of sand collectors and the water erosion runoff plot method for wind-water composite erosion studies in Jungar Banner 20 .From a methodological perspective, the aforementioned research findings offer some reference value, but they are somewhat inadequate in reflecting the wind and water erosion characteristics across the entire agricultural and pastoral intertwined area. Firstly, considering model theory, take the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) as an example.…”

Variation Characteristics of Two Erosion Forces and Their Potential Risk Assessment in the Pisha Sandstone Area

“…Ren et al [14] evaluated the effects of sand cover on runoff soil loss by conducting a series of rainfall simulation experiments. Guo et al [15] measured the compound erosion from 2012 to 2014 in an agricultural field at the northern end of the Loess Plateau (LP). These previous studies have promoted our re-understanding of the distribution and mechanism of erosion in erosion crisscross regions.…”