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Evaluation of soil erosion and sediment deposition rates by the 137Cs fingerprinting technique at different hillslope positions on a catchment

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Abstract

Assessment of the variation of soil erosion and sediment mobilization at different hillslope positions using the 137Cs tracing technique has been carried out for the Dapotou closed watershed, a representative depression in the karst gabin basin in Southwest China. The results showed that the annual soil erosion rates in the shoulders, backslopes, and footslopes were 0.87, 0.35 and 0.49 cm year−1, respectively, while the soil sediment deposition rate in the depression bottom was 2.68 cm year−1. The average annual soil erosion modulus of the complete hillslope was 632 t km−2year−1, which confirmed the seriousness of erosion according to the gradation of the karst soil erosion standards. For the whole catchment, the sediment delivery ratio was estimated as 0.82. To identify which factor could play the most important role in influencing the estimates using 137Cs, a linear correlation and principal component analysis were conducted. The results showed that 137Cs concentrations at different soil depths of the different hillslope positions were significantly correlated with soil organic matter and total nitrogen (P < 0.05). As this watershed is a typical karst geomorphological type, these findings are expected to provide data support for larger watershed soil erosion management and ecological restoration in fragile karst ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

Valuable contributions by Dr. Ruirui Cheng and Dr. Fan Liu from the Institute of Karst Geology and many others are greatly appreciated. Finally, we appreciate the editor and two anonymous reviewers’ constructive comments and suggestions.

Funding

This work was jointly funded by the National Key Research and Development Program (Evolution, integrating treatment and technological demonstration of rocky desertification in Karst Gabin Basin, Grant No. 2016YFC0502503), the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2017GXNSFBA198037; 2017JJA150639y), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41502342), and the Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (GuikeAB110004). Yang Yu received the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology (2017–2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Karst Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yanqing Li, Zhongcheng Jiang, Funing Lan, **angfei Yue & Peng Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Karst Ecosystem and Treatment of Rocky Desertification, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yanqing Li, Zhongcheng Jiang, Funing Lan, **angfei Yue & Peng Liu

  3. School of Soil and Water Conservation, Bei**g Forestry University, Bei**g, 100083, China

    Yang Yu

  4. Department of Sediment Research, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Bei**g, 100038, China

    Zhijie Shan

  5. School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, 4111, Australia

    Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei

  6. Department of Physical Geography, University of Trier, 54296, Trier, Germany

    Jesús Rodrigo-Comino

  7. Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, Valencia University, Blasco Ibàñez, 28, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    Jesús Rodrigo-Comino

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Li, Y., Jiang, Z., Yu, Y. et al. Evaluation of soil erosion and sediment deposition rates by the 137Cs fingerprinting technique at different hillslope positions on a catchment. Environ Monit Assess 192, 717 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08680-w

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