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Spatial gradient and quantitative attribution of karst soil erosion in Southwest China

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Abstract

Soil erosion estimation has attracted considerable attention from the scientific community and governments because of its importance to sustainable regional development. In karst areas, the heterogeneous environment and rocky desertification create difficulties in determining the influencing factors and spatial patterns of soil erosion. A quantitative analysis of karst soil erosion distribution was conducted by applying the revised soil loss equation model and the geographical detector method of attribution identification, which was based on spatial variance analysis. The results show that soil erosion was most severe in areas with an elevation of 1200–1800 m and intense anthropogenic activity. When the vegetation coverage was below 0.5–0.6, soil erosion showed characteristics of a source-limited regime and increased with the increasing vegetation coverage. When the vegetation coverage was higher than 0.5–0.6, soil erosion followed a transport-limited regime and decreased with the increasing vegetation coverage. The factor detector showed land use to be the dominant factor, explaining 51% of soil erosion distribution. Among various land use types, dry land had the greatest vulnerability to soil erosion. Slope served as a controlling factor at large scales, especially when combined with annual precipitation exceeding 1500 mm, and in dry and grassland areas. From the attribution analysis of multiple factors, the combination of land use and slope was the controlling interaction factor explaining 68% of soil erosion distribution. The methods and results of this research could serve as scientific references for decision makers and researchers exploring the characteristics of soil erosion to develop effective measures for its control.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2015CB452702), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41671098 and 41530749), and the “Strategic Priority Research Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA20020202 and XDA19040304)

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  1. Huan Wang is the first co-author who contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jiangbo Gao, Huan Wang & Liyuan Zuo

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Huan Wang & Liyuan Zuo

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  1. Jiangbo Gao
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Gao, J., Wang, H. & Zuo, L. Spatial gradient and quantitative attribution of karst soil erosion in Southwest China. Environ Monit Assess 190, 730 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-7116-2

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