Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

The response of runoff and sediment on eco-environmental change of Yan’gou watershed in the loess hilly region 

Author(s):

Miaozi Yu ¹, Xuexuan Xu ^2*, Puling Liu, Shiqing Zheng

Recieved Date: 2011-11-18, Accepted Date: 2012-01-03

Abstract:

The large-scale ecological restoration of Loess Plateau will definitely have a powerful influence on the regional ecological environment, with the hydrological effect on its watershed scale playing an extremely key role in the understanding of the ecological environment responses. The objective of this paper was to analyze the ecological restoration process of Yan’gou watershed from 1998 to 2010, as well as of its runoff-sediment variation process. Results indicate that, through watershed management, the runoff and sediment of Yan’gou watershed has changed significantly. In spite of the fact that the watershed’s total runoff still fluctuates with rainfall, the flood runoff has demonstrated an impressive decrease, and so has the sediment content in the runoff and the total sediment transport. This variation trend is consistent with the measures taken for the watershed management and concurrent with its corresponding stages of the management project. Concurrent with the remarkable reduction of runoff by means of engineering measures such as terraced field construction and by means of vegetation restoration, the decrease of sediment concentration rate has proved to be even larger. Fundamentally, engineering measures in combination with vegetation measures have successfully prevented sediment from flowing beyond the gully. Consequently, in the watershed management of the loess hilly-gully region, both biological and engineering measures should be taken in order to put water loss and soil erosion under control. 

Keywords:

Yan’gou watershed, terraced field construction, transformation of farmland back into forests and grasslands, runoff,  sediment

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2012
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Category: Environment
Pages: 941-945

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