Wind tunnel simulation of aeolian sandy soil erodibility under human disturbance

Inappropriate anthropogenic activities such as overcultivation and overgrazing of steppe and excessive collection of fuelwood are largely responsible for current desertification in China. However, quantitative information concerning the impacts of human disturbance on soil erosion remains sparse. This study investigated aeolian sandy soil erodibility under human disturbance by wind tunnel simulation. The fixed aeolian sandy soils were taken from an artificial vegetation protective system on mobile dunes at the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert. The results indicate that: (1) human disturbance such as cultivation can accelerate the erodibility of the fixed aeolian sandy soil. The ratio between total soil loss from the undisturbed soil and the cultivated soil is about 0.004; (2) surface vegetation and microbiotic crust are the main factors responsible for the natural wind erodibility of the fixed sandy soil. Wind erosion rate increases with decreasing percent of the vegetation and crust cover; (3) the grain size distribution shows a higher percentage of particles in the range >1.0 mm and a lower percentage in the range <0.05 mm for the cultivated sandy soil than for the undisturbed fixed sandy soil.