Using depression deposits to reconstruct human impact on sediment yields from a small karst catchment over the past 600 years

Long, Yi; Zhang, Xinbao; Pei, Zengli; Lu, Xue; Wu, Zhehong; Xu, Mingyang; Yang, Han–Soeb; Cheng, Peng

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114168

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This explains why the underground soil erosion was slow and why underground soil erosion had a cumulative effect. The results from Cs 137 , Pb 210 , and C 14 tracers indicated that the sediments in karst depressions were the result of erosion over the past 600 years (Zhang et al, 2020). Our results also demonstrated slow underground soil erosion on karst hillslopes, in which the process of underground soil erosion was discontinuous and might be delayed 0–45 min compared to the runoff generation time from underground (Figure 3), and underground soil erosion was not generated in some rainfall events (Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, BSE on karst hillslopes has rarely been quantified due to the concealment of underground flow paths and the consequent high complexity of underground soil and water loss processes (Feng et al, 2020; Sohrt et al, 2014; Zeng et al, 2018). Currently, research on BSE is mainly concentrated on the catchment scale because runoff and sediment from underground areas can be directly measured through the outlet of underground rivers or tracers of cave and depression deposits (Cao et al, 2020; Cheng et al, 2020; Stock et al, 2005; Wei et al, 2016; Zhang et al, 2020). Cao et al (2020) found that the soil lost from underground rivers accounted for approximately 20% of the total soil lost from catchments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do belowground bedrock fissures impact soil erosion on karst hillslopes under different rainfall intensity conditions?

et al. 2022

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In karst regions, bedrock fissures are developed via karstification, which may cause belowground soil erosion (BSE). However, few studies have quantitatively assessed the effect of bedrock fissures on BSE because BSE measurement is difficult on karst hillslopes. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in runoff and soil erosion at the surface and belowground on karst hillslopes with and without bedrock fissures (hereafter called HS1 and HS2, respectively) under different rainfall intensities (50, 75, and 100 mm hr−1). The slope gradient was 5°. In the rainfall process, surface runoff (SR), subsurface runoff (SBR), soil–rock interface flow (SRIF), and underground fissure flow (UFF) data were collected on HS1 and HS2. The results showed that the SR coefficients of HS1 and HS2 were negligible (less than 1%) under rainfall intensities of 50 and 75 mm hr−1, and UFF (56%–57%) of HS1 and SRIF (40%–44%) of HS2 dominated the runoff pattern. Under a rainfall intensity of 100 mm hr−1, the SR coefficient increased to approximately 30% under the two treatments, and the coefficients of UFF of HS1 and SRIF of HS2 decreased to 29% and 24%, respectively. Compared to HS2, UFF of HS1 increased by 18%–39%. The SBR coefficient was lower than 10% for all rainfall events. Because SR and SBR were low under rainfall intensities of 50 and 75 mm hr−1, the soil loss was dominated by UFF (99%–100% of the total sediment) of HS1 and by SRIF (86%–97% of the total sediment) of HS2. Under the 100 mm hr−1 rainfall intensity, almost all sediment was lost via SR under the two treatments, and the sediment loss of HS2 was 33% higher than that of HS1. Our results indicated that bedrock fissures caused more underground rainwater leakage at the SRI and further decreased surface soil erosion on karst hillslopes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do belowground bedrock fissures impact soil erosion on karst hillslopes under different rainfall intensity conditions?

et al. 2022

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“…Though the modeling study questioned the reforestation sustainability (Zhang et al, 2020), the pollen results imply that the karst limestone area possibly still has reforestation potential, given that the study site probably used to be a dense forest without bedrock constraining for a long time in history. It increased our confidence in controlling present rocky desertification in limestone areas.…”

Section: Implications For Reforestation and Rocky Desertification Con...mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Though historical documents sparsely recorded the increasing population and deforestation activities, the specific process of rocky desertification and human impacts is still unclear. Recently, karst depression deposits and isotopic dating methods were used to calculate rocky desertification‐related soil erosion rates in successive stages over past decades to centuries (Bai et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2020). However, the divided stages could be too long to tell all the information about human impacts in the past centuries (Zhang et al., 2020), though the modern processes since the 1950s were well monitored (e.g., Wang et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, karst depression deposits and isotopic dating methods were used to calculate rocky desertification‐related soil erosion rates in successive stages over past decades to centuries (Bai et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2020). However, the divided stages could be too long to tell all the information about human impacts in the past centuries (Zhang et al., 2020), though the modern processes since the 1950s were well monitored (e.g., Wang et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2022). Besides, the soil erosion rates failed to explain the vegetation type changes, hindering our understanding of forest evolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maize Cultivation Three Hundred Years Ago Triggered Severe Rocky Desertification in Southwest China

Yue,

Hao,

Wang

et al. 2024

Earth's Future

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Understanding the forest evolution is vital to answering the reforestation potential in karst areas. Here, we present the first‐ever pollen record in karst depression sediment, combined with comprehensive dating methods (137Cs, 210Pbex, and 14C) and historical documents, to reveal plant change history in southwest Guangxi, a severe rocky‐desertification region. We inferred three stages of “virgin forest–deforestation–sparse tree planting” over the past three centuries. Before the 1780s, the barren mountains used to be a lush mixed broadleaf forest probably. However, maize cultivation, along with explosive population growth and migration, accelerated mountain reclamation and deforestation, leading to severe rocky desertification since the 1780s, featured by the co‐occurrence of Zea pollen appearance and Dicranopteris spore surge from 0.92% to 12.18%. Since the 1930s, sparse tree planting began, as Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae pollen abruptly increased by 32%. Our study is significant in understanding the rocky desertification causes and guiding ecological restoration in the region.

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Human disturbance exacerbated erosion and deposition in the karst peak-cluster depressions during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Yuan,

Yue,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Sci. China Earth Sci.

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Using depression deposits to reconstruct human impact on sediment yields from a small karst catchment over the past 600 years

Cited by 24 publications

References 35 publications

How do belowground bedrock fissures impact soil erosion on karst hillslopes under different rainfall intensity conditions?

How do belowground bedrock fissures impact soil erosion on karst hillslopes under different rainfall intensity conditions?

Maize Cultivation Three Hundred Years Ago Triggered Severe Rocky Desertification in Southwest China

Human disturbance exacerbated erosion and deposition in the karst peak-cluster depressions during the Ming and Qing dynasties

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