Comprehensive analysis of changes to catchment slope properties in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau, 1978-2010

doi:10.1007/s11442-015-1179-6

Abstract

Abstract:

To control soil erosion and restore the degraded environment in the Loess Plateau, a large number of measures related to soil and water conservation have been employed that have profoundly affected catchment properties. This study constructed three indicators to characterize changes to the catchment slope, proposed both a method for a regression analysis of adjacent images and a sequence model, and applied multisource remotely sensed images and GIS spatial clustering analysis technologies to extract thematic information and comprehensively analyze the catchment change characteristics. The results indicate that the catchment slope properties changed significantly. At catchment scale, the average values of ARC, DVC and ART were 6.43%, 25.57% and 4.30%, respectively. There were six clustering types of catchment slope property changes. The maximum and minimum of the average similarities of the clustering types were 0.992 and 0.935. Each slope control measures had a distinct effect on catchment slope; the dominating factor of each clustering type was identified as: Type 1: D-VC, Type 2: D-VCLU, Type 3: D-LUVC, Type 4: D-TAVC, Type 5: D-TAC and Type 6: D-MFC. Type 5 and Type 1 covered the largest areas, respectively occupying 37.28% and 31.01%. Catchment slope property changes also had distinct types that depended on their geomorphological conditions. These findings provide a useful basis from which to further study catchment slope hydrological and soil erosion processes.

Key words: catchment slope property, slope control measure, changes, high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau

Xu ZHOU, Shengtian YANG, Xiaoyan LIU, Changming LIU, Changsen ZHAO, Haigen ZHAO, Qiuwen ZHOU, Zhiwei WANG. Comprehensive analysis of changes to catchment slope properties in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau, 1978-2010[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2015, 25(4): 437-450.

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Types	Subtypes
Farmland	Mountain paddy, hilly paddy, paddy plain areas, mountainous upland, hilly upland, upland plains area
Forestland	Forest, shrub, open woodland, other woodland
Grassland	High coverage grassland, medium coverage grassland, low coverage grassland
Water body	Canals, reservoirs, lakes, beaches
Construction land	Urban construction land, rural residential land, industrial and communications construction land
Unused land	Sandy desert, gobi desert, bare land, gravel ground

Number	Typical catchment	Similar catchment	The average similarity
1	Hunhe River	-	-
2	Wuding River	Jialu River, Qingshui River, Tuwei River, Gushan River, Lanyi River, Weifen River, Kuye River, Huangfu River, Xinshui River, Quchan River	0.992
3	Yanhe River	Beiluo River, Qingjian River	0.988
4	Xianchuan River	Sanchuan River, Qiushui River, Zhujia River	0.983
5	Jinghe River	Weihe River, Pianguan River	0.975
6	Shiwang River	Yunyan River	0.935

Number	DVC contribution	ARC contribution	ART contribution	Dominated factors	Geomorphological features
1	72.29	14.51	13.20	Vegetation coverage change	Includes sand loess hilly region, loess tableland and stony mountain
2	53.52	33.96	12.52	Vegetation coverage and land-use change	Mainly includes dunes, sand loess hilly region, Mao-shaped loess hilly region, stony mountain, broken tableland and broad valley and long Liang-shaped loess hilly region
3	31.54	51.74	16.72	Land-use and vegetation coverage change	Mainly includes Liang-shaped loess hilly region, Mao-shaped loess hilly region, broad valley and long Liang-shaped loess hilly region and broken tableland
4	30.98	14.69	54.33	Terrace area and vegetation coverage change	Includes Mao-shaped loess hilly region, stony mountain and loess tableland
5	20.44	12.11	67.45	Terrace area change	Mainly includes Broad valley and long Liang-shaped loess hilly region, Hilly region in the Western Gansu, Loess tableland, Liang-shaped loess hilly region, Stony mountain and Low loess mountain
6	35.81	33.37	30.82	Multiple factors	Mainly includes Low loess mountain and Broken tableland

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