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Determination of erosive events in the Chinese Loess Plateau using the runoff threshold

  • Sediments, Sec 3 • Hillslope and River Basin Sediment Dynamics • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Exclusion of non-erosive rainfalls is highly desirable in calculating the rainfall erosivity. It is common practice to use a rainfall threshold to separate erosive from non-erosive events. This study aims to determine erosive events in the Chinese Loess Plateau using the runoff threshold.

Materials and methods

The data used mainly include h (runoff depth; total runoff volume normalized to drainage area) and specific sediment yield (SSY) of 1475 storm events observed at three scales of hillslope, subwatershed, and watershed. The linear h-SSY relationships (SSY = bh + a) were established. The x-intercept term (−a/b) was interpreted to be the h threshold between erosive and non-erosive events. The t test was used to test whether the constant term a is statistically zero or not.

Results and discussion

The t tests demonstrated that the h-SSY relationship was proportional on upland slopes, but linear with a positive x-intercept in subwatersheds and watersheds. Accordingly, the h threshold of erosive events varied from zero on upland slopes, implying that any runoff event is erosive, to a positive value in subwatersheds and watersheds. The positive h threshold can be related to the preferential generation of runoff on the bedrock channel at the subwatershed scale and to the base flow at the watershed scale. Using the h threshold can remove approximately 85% of rainfall events from the calculation of rainfall erosivity.

Conclusions

The h threshold not only is equally effective as the rainfall threshold in removing non-erosive events but also allows a more accurate estimation of rainfall erosivity.

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Acknowledgements

The research is funded by the National Mountain Flood Disaster Investigation Project (SHZH-IWHR-57) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41230746 and 41271306). Thanks to the Data Sharing Infrastructure of Earth System Science-Data Sharing Infrastructure of Loess Plateau (www.geodata.cn) for providing part of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences & Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Mingguo Zheng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences & Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Weiming Cheng

Authors
  1. Mingguo Zheng
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  2. Weiming Cheng
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Correspondence to Mingguo Zheng.

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Responsible editor: Nikolaus Kuhn

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Zheng, M., Cheng, W. Determination of erosive events in the Chinese Loess Plateau using the runoff threshold. J Soils Sediments 17, 1182–1190 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1598-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1598-8

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