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Simulation of soil loss processes based on rainfall runoff and the time factor of governance in the Jialing River Watershed, China

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Abstract

Jialing River is the largest tributary in the catchment area of Three Gorges Reservoir, and it is also one of the important areas of sediment yield in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In recent years, significant changes of water and sediment characteristics have taken place. The "Long Control" Project implemented since 1989 had greatly changed the surface appearance of the Jialing River Watershed (JRW), and it had made the environments of the watershed sediment yield and sediment transport change significantly. In this research, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation was selected and used to predict the annual average amount of soil erosion for the special water and sediment environments in the JRW after the implementation of the "Long Control" Project, and then the rainfall–runoff modulus and the time factor of governance were both considered as dynamic factors, the dynamic sediment transport model was built for soil erosion monitoring and forecasting based on the average sediment yield model. According to the dynamic model, the spatial and temporal distribution of soil erosion amount and sediment transport amount of the JRW from 1990 to 2007 was simulated using geographic information system (GIS) technology and space-grid algorithm. Simulation results showed that the average relative error of sediment transport was less than 10% except for the extreme hydrological year. The relationship between water and sediment from 1990 to 2007 showed that sediment interception effects of the soil and water conservation projects were obvious: the annual average sediment discharge reduced from 145.3 to 35 million tons, the decrement of sediment amount was about 111 million tons, and decreasing amplitude was 76%; the sediment concentration was also decreased from 2.01 to 0.578 kg/m3. These data are of great significance for the prediction and estimation of the future changing trends of sediment storage in the Three Gorges Reservoir and the particulate non-point source pollution load carried by sediment transport from watershed surface.

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Acknowledgments

This is contribution number 63 from the Urban Water Research Center, University of California, Irvine. We would like to thank Professor William Cooper for helpful discussions on this paper. The authors are extremely grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. This study was supported by the major projects of Ministry of Science and Technology in China (2009ZX07104-001 and 2009ZX07104-002) and Jiangsu province key laboratory of environmental science and engineering open project (Zd91201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Ecological Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, Peoples’ Republic of China

    Lei Wu, Tian-yu Long & Daniel Mmereki

  2. College of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, No.174, Sha Zheng Street, Sha Pingba District, Chongqing, 400045, Peoples’ Republic of China

    Lei Wu, Tian-yu Long & Daniel Mmereki

  3. School of Management, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang, 110168, Peoples’ Republic of China

    Xia Liu

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  1. Lei Wu
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Correspondence to Lei Wu.

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Wu, L., Long, Ty., Liu, X. et al. Simulation of soil loss processes based on rainfall runoff and the time factor of governance in the Jialing River Watershed, China. Environ Monit Assess 184, 3731–3748 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2220-6

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