Detecting the Quantitative Hydrological Response to Changes in Climate and Human Activities at Temporal and Spatial Scales in a Typical Gully Region of the Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

This study examined the Chabagou River watershed in the gully region of the Loess Plateau in China’s Shaanxi Province, and was based on measured precipitation and runoff data in the basin over a 52-year period (1959–2010), land-use types, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and other data. Statistical models and distributed hydrological models were used to explore the influences of climate change and human activity on the hydrological response and on the temporal and spatial evolution of the basin. It was found that precipitation and runoff in the gully region presented a downward trend during the 52-year period. Since the 1970s, the hydrological response to human activities has become the main source of regional hydrological evolution. Evapotranspiration from the large silt dam in the study area has increased. The depth of soil water decreased at first, then it increased by amount that exceeded the evaporation increase observed in the second and third change periods. The water and soil conservation measures had a beneficial effect on the ecology of the watershed. These results provide a reference for water resource management and soil and water conservation in the study area.

Assessing the Spatiotemporal Variations in the Hydrological Response of the Qin River Basin in Loess Plateau, China

“…Therefore, the Loess Plateau is an ecologically sensitive area in which development must be carefully planned. Since the 1970s, large-scale water and soil conservation, groundwater development and utilization, water conservancy, urban expansion, and other projects have substantially reduced runoff on the Loess Plateau, and even some rivers have experienced seasonal flow interruptions [12,13]. Under the combined impact of various driving forces, accurately quantifying the spatial and temporal evolution of water resources is challenging.…”

Variation characteristics of hydrological response to water conservancy construction in the Qinhe River Basin of the Loess Plateau, China

“…These measures were intended to prevent deterioration of the regional environment, increase its ecological bearing capacity and ensure a balance between development by humans and the conservation of nature (Zarfl et al, 2015). However, interference from human activities complicates the ecological environment and hydrological cycle in the region (Guo et al, 2022; Li et al, 2018; Yang et al, 2004). Therefore, evaluation of the extent and impacts of human activities on hydrological processes and the ecological environment, as well as shaping and preserving ecological stability in the basins under new water and sediment conditions associated with water conservancy projects, are gaining increasing attention in basin ecology and hydrology studies (Wen et al, 2022; Kang et al, 2021).…”

“…GIS technology has been increasingly employed in the construction of distributed hydrological models for the characterization of ecological changes in basins (Lyu et al, 2019). Therefore, based on a distributed hydrological model, Guo et al (2022) explored the impacts of the construction of check dams on ecological changes on the Loess Plateau. The increasing water conservancy projects are exacerbating the changes to the ecology in the plateau region; these changes elevate uncertainties in results from different studies (Wu et al, 2017).…”

Variation characteristics of hydrological response to water conservancy construction in the Qinhe River Basin of the Loess Plateau, China

“…GIS technology has been increasingly employed in the construction of distributed hydrological models for the characterization of ecological changes in basins (Lyu et al, 2019). Therefore, based on a distributed hydrological model, Guo et al (2022) explored the impacts of the construction of check dams on ecological changes in the Loess Plateau. The increasing water conservancy projects are exacerbating the changes to the ecology in the plateau region; these changes elevate uncertainties in results from different studies (Wu et al, 2017).…”

“…These measures were intended to prevent deterioration of the regional environment, increase its ecological bearing capacity, and ensure a balance between development by humans and the conservation of nature. However, interference from human activities complicates the ecological environment and hydrological cycle in the region (Yang et al, 2004;Li et al, 2018;Guo et al, 2022). Therefore, evaluation of the extent and impacts of human activities on hydrological processes and the ecological environment, as well as shaping and preserving ecological stability in the basins under new water and sediment conditions associated with water conservancy projects, are gaining increasing attention in basin ecology and hydrology studies (Wen et al, 2022;Kang et al, 2021).…”