Effects of large gullies on catchment-scale soil moisture spatial behaviors: A case study on the Loess Plateau of China

Zhao, Xueyong; Wu, Pute; Brocca, Luca; Zhang, Baoqing

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.07.001

Cited by 66 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Preferential flow also contributes to heterogeneity in soil water. Geostatistical methods have been used to study the spatial variability of soil water at large scales, such as the hillslope scale (Hu, Shao, Han, & Reichardt, ) and catchment scale (Gao, Zhao, Wu, Brocca, & Zhang, ). However, few efforts have focused on the spatial distribution and variability of soil water content in the presence of preferential flow at small scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of stand origin and slope position on infiltration pattern and preferential flow on a Loess hillslope

Mei

Zhu

et al. 2018

Land Degrad Dev

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Preferential flow is expected to provide an important pathway to replenish soil water at deep soil layers in arid or semiarid areas; however, few studies have addressed this topic, especially in semiarid Loess hillslopes. This study aimed to quantify the effect of stand origin and slope position on the contribution of preferential flow to total infiltration and spatial variations in water flow. A blue dye tracer experiment was conducted to visualize water flow in Robinia pseudoacacia plantation (PL), natural forestland (NF), and natural grassland (NG) at the upslope, midslope, and downslope, and semivariance analysis was used to determine spatial variability at the centimeter scale. The results showed that role of macropore flow was dominant in upslope and midslope, and larger in NF than that in PL and NG, due to presence of abundant root systems in the upper soil of NF. Moreover, contribution of preferential flow at the upper slope in NF was larger than that in PL. At the downslope, the role of rock fragments coverage at the downslope was emphasized, leading lateral flow dominant at the downslope in PL and NG. In addition, contribution of preferential flow and vertical variability of infiltration at the downslope in PL was higher than that in NF. The findings demonstrate that compared with PL, NF has a more positive impact on increasing infiltration and preferential flow that can replenish deep soil water, and reducing surface runoff and soil erosion. The presence of rock fragments coverage can make lateral flow dominant at the downslope on the Loess hillslope, related to water movement along the slope toward streams and catchment outlets.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of stand origin and slope position on infiltration pattern and preferential flow on a Loess hillslope

Mei

Zhu

et al. 2018

Land Degrad Dev

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“…TS analysis, which is an effective technique to estimate SWS status, is broadly used to characterize SWS spatial distribution. Recently, research on the TS of SWS on the CLP has made great progress and has focused on detecting temporally stable locations at diverse depths (Gao & Shao, 2012;Gao, Zhao, Wu, Brocca, & Zhang, 2016;Hu, Shao, Han, et al, 2010;Jia, Shao, Wei, & Wang, 2013). Hu, Shao, Han, et al (2010) and Gao, Wu, Zhao, Shi, and Wang (2011) identified that the TS of SWS at 0.2-0.4 m was significantly (P < 0.05) weaker than that at deeper depths where no significant differences in TS were found.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal variability of 0‐ to 5‐m soil–water storage at the watershed scale

Wang

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

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Dynamic relationships among rainfall patterns, soil water distribution, and plant growth are crucial for sustainable conservation of soil and water resources in water‐limited ecosystems. Spatial and temporal variation in deep soil water content at a watershed scale have not yet been characterized adequately due to the lack of deep soil water data. Deep soil–water storage (SWS) up to a depth of 5 m (n = 73) was measured at 19 sampling occasions at the LaoYeManQu watershed on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). At a depth of 0–1.5 m, the annual mean SWS was highly correlated with rain intensity, and the correlation decreased with depth, but within the layers at 1.5–5.0 m, the changes in SWS indicated a lag between precipitation and the replenishment of soil water. Geostatistical parameters of SWS were also highly dependent on depth, and the mean SWS presented similar spatial structures in two adjacent layers. Temporal stability of SWS as indicated by mean relative difference, standard deviation of the relative difference (SDRD), and mean absolute bias error (MABE) was significantly weaker at the shallow than at deeper layers. Soil separates and organic carbon content controlled the spatial pattern of SWS at the watershed scale. One representative location (Site 57) was identified to estimate the mean SWS in the 1‐ to 5‐m layer of the watershed. Semivariograms of the SDRD and MABE were best fitted by an isotropic spherical model, and their spatial distributions were depth‐dependent. Both temporal stability and spatial variability of SWS increased over depth. This study is helpful for deep SWS estimation and sustainable management of soil and water on the CLP, and for other similar regions around the world.

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“…In this paper, the Chinese loess plateau region, which is well known for serious soil water erosion and soil water shortage (Gao et al, 2016;Pan et al, 2017a) was selected as the case to investigate these relationships. Since 1999, about 0.8 million hectares of orchards (mainly jujube and apple) were established and orchards had become the major land use type.…”

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confidence: 99%

Application Rate Influences the Soil and Water Conservation Effectiveness of Mulching with Chipped Branches

Pan¹,

Zhao²,

Song³

et al. 2018

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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Mulching with chipped, pruned branches (MB) is an effective land management practice to reduce surface runoff and to control soil water erosion. The use of MB has extra advantages such as material availability and a low cost compared with other mulching materials, especially in orchards. To evaluate the impacts of application rates on the ecological and economical effectiveness of MB, a plot-scale soil bin experiment was conducted under two representative rainfall regimes. Five treatments were tested: clear cultivation (CC, bare soil without mulching) and four MB application rates of 0.37, 0.74, 1.11, and 1.48 kg m-2. The application of MB reduced runoff generation by 15.5 to 78.6% and sediment yield by 40.7 to 98.6% compared to CC. From an ecological view, the soil and water conservation performance of MB generally decreased with increasing rainfall intensity and application rate with an exception of 1.48 kg m-2 under the heavy rainfall. Different mechanisms, such as soil surface coverage, rainfall interception by mulching, soil permeability, stability of mulching materials, and rill initiation simultaneously affected the effectiveness of MB. From an economical view, this relationship was more complex. The present study confirmed the necessity of determining the proper mulching application rate in the context of site-specific soil, vegetation, and climatic conditions as well as local social status.

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Effects of large gullies on catchment-scale soil moisture spatial behaviors: A case study on the Loess Plateau of China

Cited by 66 publications

References 37 publications

Effect of stand origin and slope position on infiltration pattern and preferential flow on a Loess hillslope

Effect of stand origin and slope position on infiltration pattern and preferential flow on a Loess hillslope

Spatial and temporal variability of 0‐ to 5‐m soil–water storage at the watershed scale

Application Rate Influences the Soil and Water Conservation Effectiveness of Mulching with Chipped Branches

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