Abstract
Soil erosion and associated off-site sedimentation are threatening the sustainable use of the Three Gorges Dam. To initiate management intervention to reduce sediment yields, there is an increasing need for reliable information on soil erosion in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR). The purpose of this study is to use 137Cs tracing methods to construct a sediment budget for a small agricultural catchment in the TGRR. Cores were taken from a pond and from paddy fields, for 137Cs measurements. The results show that the average sedimentation rate in the pond since 1963 is 1.50 g cm−2 yr−1 and the corresponding amount of sediment deposited is 1,553 t. The surface erosion rate for the sloping cultivated lands and the sedimentation rate in the paddy fields were estimated to be 3,770 t km−2 yr−1 and 2,600 t km−2 yr−1, respectively. Based on the estimated erosion and deposition rates, and the area of each unit, the post 1970 sediment budget for the catchment has been constructed. A sediment delivery ratio of 0.5 has been estimated for the past 42 years. The data indicate that the sloping cultivated lands are the primary sediment source areas, and that the paddy fields are deposition zones. The typical land use pattern (with the upper parts characterized by sloping cultivated land and the lower parts by paddy fields) plays an important role in reducing sediment yield from agricultural catchments in the TGRR. A 137Cs profile for the sediment deposited in a pond is shown to provide an effective means of estimating the land surface erosion rate in the upstream catchment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appleby PG, Oldfield F (1983) The assessment of 210Pb data from sites with varying sediment accumulation rates. Hydrobiologia 103: 29–35. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-7290-2_5.
Begy R, Cosma C, Timar A (2009) Recent changes in Red Lake (Romania) sedimentation rate determined from depth profiles of 210Pb and 137Cs radioisotopes. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 100(8): 644–648. DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVRAD.2009.05.005.
Benninger LK, Suayah IB, Stanley DJ (1997) Manzala lagoon, Nile delta, Egypt: modern sediment accumulation based on radioactive tracers. Environmental Geology 34(2–3): 183–193. DOI: 10.1007/s002540050270.
Brown AG, Carey C, Erkens G, et al. (2009) From sedimentary records to sediment budgets: multiple approaches to catchment sediment flux. Geomorphology 108(1): 35–47. DOI: 10.1016/J.GEOMORPH.2008.01.021.
Collins AL, Walling DE (2004) Documenting catchment suspended sediment sources: problems, approaches and prospects. Progress in Physical Geography 28(2): 159–196. DOI: 10.1191/0309133304pp409ra.
Edgington DN, Klump JV, Robbins JA, et al. (1991) Sedimentation rates, residence times and radionuclide inventories in Lake Baikal from 137Cs and 210Pb in sediment cores. Nature 350: 601–604. DOI: 10.1038/350601a0.
Erkens G, Cohen KM, Gouw MJP, et al. (2006) Holocene sediment budgets of the Rhine Delta (TheNetherlands): a record of changing sediment delivery. Sediment Dynamics and the Hydromorphology of Fluvial Systems. IAHS Publication 306: 406–415.
Faleh A, Navas A, Sadiki A (2005) Erosion and dam siltation in a Rif catchment (Morocco). In: Sediment Budgets 2. IAHS Publication 2: 58–64.
Fang HY, Sun LY, Qi DL, et al. (2012) Using 137Cs technique to quantify soil erosion and deposition rates in an agricultural catchment in the black soil region, Northeast China. Geomorphology 169–170: 142–150. DOI: 10.1016/J.GEOMORPH.2012.04.019.
He Q, Walling DE, Owens PN (1996) Interpreting the Cs-137 profiles observed in several small lakes and reservoirs in southern England. Chemical Geology 129(1): 115–131. DOI: 10.1016/0009-2541(95)00149-2.
He XB, Bao YH, Nan HW, et al. (2009) Tillage pedogenesis of purple soils in Southwestern China. Journal of Mountain Science 6(2): 205–210. DOI: 10.1007/s11629-009-1038-y.
IAEA (1998) Use of 137Cs in the study of soil erosion and sedimentation. IAEA-TECDOC-1028.
Jing K, Jiao JY, Li LY (2010) Soil erosion amount and sediment delivery ratio in the hilly purple soil region in the upper reaches of Yangtze River: a case study in the Fujiang River Basin. Science of Soil and Water Conservation 8(5):1–7 (In Chinese).
Lal R (2001) Soil degradation by erosion. Land Degradation & Development 12(6): 519–539. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.472.
Li FC, Zhang JH, Su ZA (2012) Changes in SOC and nutrients under intensive tillage in two types of slope landscapes. Journal of Mountain Science 9(1): 67–76. DOI: 10.1007/s11629-012-2192-1.
Li H, Zhang XB, Wen AB, et al. (2009) Erosion rate of purple soil on a cultivated slope in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region using 137Cs technique. Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation 29(5): 1–6 (In Chinese).
Loughran RJ, Elliott GL (1996) Rates of soil erosion in Australia determined by the Caesium-137 technique: a national reconnaissance survey. IAHS Pubication-Series of Proceedings and Reports-intern Assoc Hydrological Sciences 236: 275–282.
Lu XX, Higgitt DL (2000) Estimating erosion rates on sloping agricultural land in the Yangtze Three Gorges, China, from caesium-137 measurements. Catena 39(1): 33–51. DOI: 10.1016/S0341-8162(99)00081-8.
Namr KL, Mrabet R (2004) Influence of agricultural management on chemical quality of a clay soil of semi-arid Morocco. Journal of African Earth Sciences 39(3-5): 485–489. DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2004.07.016.
Navas A, Valero-Garcés BL, Gaspar L, et al. (2011) Radionuclides and stable elements in the sediments of the Yesa Reservoir, Central Spanish Pyrenees. Journal of Soils and Sediments 11(6): 1082–1098.
Nearing MA, Kimoto A, Nichols MH, et al. (2003–2012, 2005) Spatial patterns of soil erosion and deposition in two small, semiarid watersheds. Journal of geophysical research: Earth Surface 110(F4). DOI: 10.1029/2005JF000290.
Porto P, Walling DE, Callegari G (2011) Using 137Cs measurements to establish catchment sediment budgets and explore scale effects. Hydrological Processes 25(6): 886–900. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.7874.
Putyrskaya V, Klemt E, Rõllin S (2009) Migration of 137Cs in tributaries, lake water and sediment of Lago Maggiore (Italy, Switzerland)-Analysis and comparison with Lago di Lugano and other lakes. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 100(1): 35–48. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2008.10.005.
Qi YQ, Zhang XB, He XB, et al. (2006) A study on soil erosion induced sediment yield by reservoir and pond deposits dating with 137Cs in small catchments of the hilly Sichuan basin and the Three Gorges Region. Geographical Research 4(25): 641–648 (In Chinese).
Ritchie JC, Hawks PH, McHenry JR (1975) Deposition rates in valleys determined using fallout cesium-137. Geological Society of America Bulletin 86(8): 1128–1130. DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(1975)
Ritchie JC, McHenry JR (1990) Journal of Environmental Quality 19(2): 215–233.
Vigiak O, Borselli L, Newham LTH, et al. (2012) Comparison of conceptual landscape metrics to define hillslope-scale sediment delivery ratio. Geomorphology 138: 74–88. DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.08.026.
Viparelli E, Lauer JW, Belmont P, et al. (2011) A numerical model to develop long-term sediment budgets using isotopic sediment fingerprints. Computers & Geosciences 53: 114–122. DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2011.10.003.
Walling DE (1983) The sediment delivery problem. Journal of Hydrology 65: 209–237. DOI: 10.1016/0022-1694(83)90217-2.
Walling DE (2006) Tracing versus monitoring: New challenges and opportunities in erosion and sediment delivery research. In: Owens PN and Collins AJ (eds.) Soil Erosion and Sediment Redistribution in River Catchments. Wallingford, CABI 13–27.
Walling DE, Collins AL (2008) The catchment sediment budget as a management tool. Environmental Science and Policy 11(2): 136–143. DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVSCI.2007.10.004.
Walling DE, He Q, Whelan PA (2003) Using 137Cs measurements to validate the application of the AGNPS and ANSWERS erosion and sediment yield models in two small Devon catchments. Soil and Tillage Research 69(1): 27–43. DOI: 10.1016/S0167-1987(02)00126-5.
Walling DE, Russell MA, Hodgkinson RA, et al. (2002) Establishing sediment budgets for two small lowland agricultural catchments in the UK. Catena 47(4): 323–353. DOI: 10.1016/S0341-8162(01)00187-4.
Xiang L, Lu XX, Higgitt DL, et al. (2002) Recent lake sedimentation in the middle and lower Yangtze basin inferred from 137Cs and 210Pb measurements. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 21(1): 77–86. DOI: 10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00015-9.
Zapata F (2003) The use of environmental radionuclides as tracers in soil erosion and sedimentation investigations: recent advances and future developments. Soil and Tillage Research 69: 3–13. DOI: 10.1016/S0167-1987(02)00124-1.
Zhang X, Walling DE (2005) Characterizing land surface erosion from cesium-137 profiles in lake and reservoir sediments. Journal of Environmental Quality 34(2): 514–523.
Zhang XB (2006) Discussion on interpretations of 137Cs depth distribution profiles of lake deposits. Journal of Mountain Science 23(3): 294–299 (In Chinese).
Zhao JW, Wang PY (2009) Reconstructing the proof of Babylonian volume formula for the frustum of a square pyramid. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences 28(2): 183–190. (In Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ju, L., Wen, Ab., Long, Y. et al. Using 137Cs tracing methods to estimate soil redistribution rates and to construct a sediment budget for a small agricultural catchment in the three gorges reservoir region, China. J. Mt. Sci. 10, 428–436 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2585-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2585-9