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Desertification Caused by Embankment Construction in Permafrost Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

  • Research Article-Earth Sciences
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Abstract

Desertification is a process of land degradation embodied in soil water reduction, soil deterioration and vegetation degradation. As an important factor to evaluate the desertification degree, the water content of shallow soil will infiltrate downward when permafrost degrades on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). With the development of transportation facilities on the QTP, embankment construction, which will directly change the surface cover and reduces the water content of shallow soil by degrading the permafrost. In this study, an embankment construction in the permafrost region of the QTP was selected and a hydro-thermo-vapor coupling model for the embankment-permafrost system was established. The mechanism and process of desertification caused by permafrost degradation were analyzed by the variations of geotemperature and soil water. The results show that: (1) embankment construction has increased the heat flowing into the ground, warmed the underlying permafrost and deepened the permafrost table by more than 10 m during 50 years. (2) Accompanied with the permafrost degradation, the shallow soil water migrates downward and accumulates near the deepening permafrost table, showing a funnel-shaped distribution. The average water content of shallow soil under the changed surface has decreased by 5–6% during 50 years, indicating the intensification of desertification. (3) Desertification and permafrost degradation on the QTP is interconnected by the redistribution of soil water. Desertification and permafrost degradation are the mutual promotion process on the QTP.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) Program (No. 2019QZKK0905), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2020A1515010745), Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering (No. SKLFSE201810), Science and Technology Projects in Guangzhou (No. 202102020486) and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Modern Civil Engineering Technology (No. 2021B1212040003).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, Guangdong, China

    Tianli Lan, Xiaoxiao Luo, Qinguo Ma, Wangtao Jiang & Huxi Xia

  2. State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Qinguo Ma

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  1. Tianli Lan
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  2. Xiaoxiao Luo
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Contributions

TL Methodology; Software; Validation; Writing -original draft. XL Methodology; Review and editing, Formal analysis. QM Conceptualization; Methodology; Supervision; Validation; Writing review and editing. WJ Methodology; Writing review and editing. HX Conceptualization; Review and editing, Formal analysis.

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Lan, T., Luo, X., Ma, Q. et al. Desertification Caused by Embankment Construction in Permafrost Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Arab J Sci Eng 48, 583–599 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-022-06988-y

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