Landscape and Soil Erosion Changes Along Different Types of Road Over the Past 30 Years in the Largest Loess Tableland of China

Bibliographic Data

ID21647537
AuthorsSiqi Yang (0000-0002-4985-6120, State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing China), S T Yang (0000-0003-2160-9651, State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing China), Zhao Jin (0000-0003-2547-4723, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences Xi'an China, corresponding author), Mingkui Hao (State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences Xi'an China), Chengcheng Jiang (0000-0002-3238-1739, Xi'an Institute for Innovative Earth Environment Research Xi'an China), Hao Han (0000-0002-6134-1322, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences Xi'an China), Zhaolong An (0000-0002-9538-9826, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Zhisheng An (State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing China), Paolo Tarolli (0000-0003-0043-5226, Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry University of Padova Legnaro Italy)
Year2024
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.5315
OpenAlexW4403012659
LanguageEN
References cited32

Road construction, as a product of modern civilization, can alter landscape patterns and accelerate erosion, especially in the loess tableland area of China with fragile eco‐environment. Different types of road could change land surface and increased soil erosion in different ways, while knowledge about this topic is limited. In this study, our objective is to evaluate the landscape and soil erosion changes along different types of road in the largest loess tableland of China. Results showed that: (1) The land use type became more diverse along the three types of road in 1990–2020, leading to increased landscape fragmentation and spatial heterogeneity. (2) Different types of road had different proportions of soil erosion values. In the expressway and provincial road, the proportion of low soil erosion values (below 100 t ha −1 yr −1 ) was > 70% in 1990–2020; in the national road, the proportion of low erosion values (below 100 t ha −1 yr −1 ) was > 50%. (3) In 1990–2020, soil erosion increased with the increase of road‐induced landscape fragmentation along the three types of road. For the expressway, soil erosion value increased from 91.5 to 98.5 t ha −1 yr −1 between 1990 and 2020; for the national road, soil erosion value increased from 174.5 to 184.8 t ha −1 yr −1 ; and for the provincial road, soil erosion value increased from 93.7 to 97.1 t ha −1 yr −1 . (4) Effective soil and water conservation programs could mitigate erosion. Compared with the simulated soil erosion value, the actual soil erosion value decreased along the expressway, national road, and provincial road by 1.21, 3.67, and 2.96 t ha −1 yr −1 , respectively, between 2005 and 2020. This study emphasizes the importance of road in aggravating erosion and the effectiveness of soil and water conservation programs in mitigating soil erosion within the loess area

Archaeology · China · Erosion · Geography · Geomorphology · Geotechnical engineering · Loess · Physical geography · Soil loss · Environmental Science · Landslides and related hazards · Soil erosion and sediment transport · Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation · Geology

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