Conservation status of wetlands in Zimbabwe: past and present

The conservation status of dambos, a particular type of wetland associated with the headwaters of rivers draining the central plateau area of Zimbabwe, is examined in terms of past and present utilisation and erosion problems. Pre- and post-1950 phases are recognized within both the commercial farming areas and the Communal Lands (or peasant farming areas). The pre-1950 phase on commercial farms was one of exploitation of dambos mainly for winter wheat production, such cultivation contributing towards locally serious erosion. Consequently legislation was passed to restrict disturbance of wetlands, especially for cultivation. The post-1950 phase on commercial farms was one of conservation, with minimal use of dambos for grazing and limited erosion. The pre-1950 phase within the Communal Lands, the former native reserves, was one involving progressive modification of the traditional farming system through, in particular, centralisation. Dambo cultivation, a well-established practice, continued throughout this place, but towards the end of this period there were localised signs of degradation associated, in part, with grazing. The post-1950 phase was one of increased pressure on land with a growing human and livestock population. Thus dambos were required to support more and more cattle throughout the year, whilst efforts to curtail dambo cultivation were not well-recieved by peasant farmers and may have compromised general conservation in the reserves.     

Climate, agriculture, and cycles of human occupation over the last 4000 yr in southern Zacatecas, Mexico

Scholars attribute the growth and decline of Classic period (AD 200-900) settlements in the semi-arid northern frontier zone of Mesoamerica to rainfall cycles that controlled the extent of arable land. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. We present phytolith, organic carbon, and magnetic susceptibility analyses of a 4000-yr alluvial record of climate and human land use from the Malpaso Valley, the site of one such Classic frontier community. The earliest farming occupation is detected around 500 BC and appears related to a slight increase of aridity, similar to the level of the modern day valley. By AD 500, the valley's Classic period Mesoamerican settlements were founded under these same dry conditions, which continued into the Postclassic period. This indicates that the La Quemada occupation did not develop during a period of increased rainfall, but rather an arid phase. The most dramatic changes detected in the valley resulted from the erosion associated with Spanish Colonial grazing and deforestation that began in the 16th century. The landscape of the modern Malpaso Valley is thus primarily the product of a series of intense and rapid transformations that were concentrated within the last 400 yr.     

粤北石漠化地区土壤侵蚀初步研究

土壤流失是石漠化最基本的过程之一。本文采用广东省阳山县江英镇实验小区的观测资料,分析粤北岩溶山区不同土地利用类型的侵蚀差异。结果表明,裸地表层的养分流失速度很快,其侵蚀量是无人为扰动的原始草坡的60余倍,耕地的侵蚀量平均也达到原始草坡的15倍左右。有植被覆盖的原始草坡地和耕地的侵蚀量均与次降水量的相关性更高,而裸地的侵蚀量与连续30分钟最大雨强的相关性高,这一观测结果表明地表植被抵御短期强降水侵蚀土壤的效果明显。      

岩溶在古地理研究中的作用——“关于古地理研究中若干原则问题的商榷”一文的补充及讨论

本文从现代、地史时期岩溶剥蚀速度及岩溶铝土矿的形成等方面探讨岩溶在古地理研究中的重大作用,从而提出稳定地区“缺失”某一时期地层,并非该时期为陆;而是前期仍有沉积,后期才真正上升为陆,遭受剥蚀。     

Drainage and flooding in karst terranes

Flooding in karst terranes is a commonly occurring geo-hazard. It causes damage to property, businesses, and roadways. It can lead to the formation of cover-collapse sinkholes and groundwater contamination. Generally, three types of flooding or their combinations are related to karst: recharge-related sinkhole flooding, flow-related flooding, and discharge-related flooding. Understanding of the type of flooding is essential for solving the flooding problem. Areas prone to karst flooding should be recognized, and restrictions and laws on land use should be implemented. Runoff and erosion control plans should address the unique characteristics of karst features. Digging out clogged sinkholes, creating retention basins, or installing Class V Injection Wells are possible solutions to improve drainage of storm water. Solutions to flooding problems in karst areas should also be coordinated with the water quality control to prevent groundwater contamination.     

Climatic and anthropogenic drivers of land use/cover change in fragile karst areas of southwest China since the early 1970s: a case study on the Maotiaohe watershed

Land use/cover change and its driving forces has been one of the most important fields in global environmental change research since the 1990s. Karst areas are distributed extensively on the Earth’s surface and are usually characterized by a fragile eco-environment. In southwest China, karst landforms are fully developed and their eco-environment is highly fragile. Over the past decades, irrational land use practice has caused a series of alarming eco-environmental issues including forest clearing, soil erosion, and karst rocky desertification. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study land use/cover change in this area and its driving forces in order to re-build the damaged eco-environment and achieve sustainable land use. In this paper, the authors conduct a case study on land use/cover change and its natural and human driving forces since the early 1970s in southwest China’s Maotiaohe watershed. The results indicate that the land use/cover pattern in the study area has undergone a very complex change, which is a result of combined action of both natural and anthropological factors. In the 1970s and 1980s, climate change and fast population increase played dominating roles in the change of arable land, shrub land, grassland, and rocky desertification land. Since the early 1990s, economic development has gradually taken the place of population change to become the overwhelming human factor to go along with climate change in driving the land use/cover change, particularly the change in arable land, construction land, and rocky desertification land.     

融雪侵蚀研究进展

融雪侵蚀在中国及世界上许多地区都有发生,其对表层土壤的破坏作用越来越为人们所认识,已成为土壤侵蚀研究中的重要问题之一。在总结相关研究成果的基础上,分析了影响积雪和融雪的气候、海拔、地形地貌及土地利用等因素。在融雪侵蚀影响因素方面,认为融雪径流、表层土壤解冻深度、解冻期表层土壤可蚀性是影响融雪侵蚀发生的特殊因素。同时指出,融雪侵蚀预报模型中冻融作用对土壤水分迁移的影响、未完全解冻层对表层土壤水分的影响以及坡面融雪过程研究是未来融雪侵蚀研究中应重点解决的问题。     

Review of River Bank Erosion Research

Riverbank erosion is a critical style of lateral channel change. It threatens the arable land, ecological environment, as well as the people’s lives and properties along the river. Through review on the research process of riverbank erosion globally, four aspects were classified and described: ①Riverbank erosion processes and mechanisms. The occurence and development of riverbank erosion is quite complicated, composed by multiple processes, which are hard to separate with each other. Therefore, the scholars have proposed a lot of theories to describe the processes. Among the theories, “Riverbank Stability Theory” has been widely recognized and developed. ②Factors of riverbank erosion. The key factors that affect riverbank erosion include hydrology conditions of the river, soil properties, geomorphology, vegetation of the river bank and meteorology. However, it should be noted that the importance of different factors in the collapse process is not equivalent and effects of the same factor on different rivers are various. ③Riverbank erosion estimation. With the tremendous improvement of quantification recently, time interval of erosion measurement is shortening continuously, while spatial scale is larger and larger. At the same time, resolution is becoming increasingly high. Erosion pin was commonly used in early studies because of its easy use and low cost, whereas remote sensing and digital photogrammetry have more advantages in modern measurement. ④Modeling of riverbank erosion. At present, the models are mainly based on the fundamental theories of hydraulics and soil mechanics, to study river bank stability. According to the review of the four aspects above, problems of recent researches and prospects of possible development in the future were discussed. The researchers should pay much attention to temporal spatial distribution of riverbank erosion first before further research. The study would be greatly helpful to the researchers for the specific river reach when choosing the proper theories as well as technologies for measurement and quantification, study the riverbank erosion through both macroscopic and microscopic views, and predict the erosion for management purpose.     

岩溶生态系统的土壤特性及其今后研究方向

岩溶石漠化退化土地是目前西南岩溶地区经济发展、生态恢复与重建工作中严重的问题之一。由于岩溶生态系统的独特性和脆弱性,岩溶生态系统土壤具有不同于其它生态脆弱区土壤的特征,本文将其归纳为成土速率决定的在人类活动尺度下土壤不可再生性即脆弱性、土壤侵蚀(土层丢失)的独特性、土壤退化过程中空间分布的斑块化及其与岩性的相关性、土壤退化过程中有机碳活性成分下降和来源变化、土壤退化导致岩溶生态系统生态过程中断。因此,在退化岩溶生态系统的研究中,要加强对岩溶生态系统土壤特性及退化恢复理论的研究。      

Investigating spatial contribution of land use types and land slope classes on soil erosion distribution under tropical environment

Natural Hazards - Increasing land occupancy for farming without conservation principles, particularly in the Indonesian island of Java, is resulting in a severe erosion problem. This study...     

Depositional environment of the Laptev Sea (Arctic Siberia) during the Holocene

The Holocene depositional setting of the Laptev Sea was studied using three marine sediment cores from water depths between 77 and 46 m. Based on sedimentary parameters (TOC content, δ¹³C_org, sedimentation rates) controlled by radiocarbon age models the palaeoenvironment of a strongly coupled river-shelf system was reconstructed since ˜11 ka BP. Caused by a transgressing sea after the last glaciation, all cores reveal progressive decreases in sedimentation rates. Using the sedimentary records of a core from the Khatanga-Anabar river channel in the western Laptev Sea, several phases of change are recognized: (1) an early period lasted until ˜10 ka BP characterized by an increased deposition of plant debris due to shelf erosion and fluvial runoff; (2) a transitional phase with consistently increasing marine conditions until 6 ka BP, which was marked at its beginning near 10 ka BP by the first occurrence of marine bivalves, high TOC content and an increase in δ¹³C_org; (3) a time of extremely slow deposition of sediments, commencing at ˜6 ka BP and interpreted as Holocene sea-level highstand, which caused a southward retreat of the depositional centres within the now submerged river channels on the shelf; (4) a final phase with the establishment of modern conditions after ˜2 ka BP.     

Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation,Mývatnssveit,northeast Iceland

This paper assesses the contribution of historical and traditional winter grazing to long‐term land degradation in northeast Iceland. To do so, indicators of soil erosion from two contrasting historical winter grazing areas, set in a tephrochronological framework, are compared against their temporal and regional land degradation contexts. The observations made indicate distinctive and different landscape responses to historical winter grazing depending on location. In both study areas, there is an accelerated level of wind and water erosion with settlement at ca. A.D. 874 through to A.D. 1477. One of these areas had a subsequent reduction in erosion rates to considerably below the regional average, possibly as a result of adaptive land management; the second, more inherently sensitive area, is now subarctic desert. These findings confirm early land management practices as a major factor in Icelandic land degradation, they contribute to explanations of early settlement success and failure, and highlight the significance of historical approaches in addressing contemporary issues of land degradation and conservation responses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The features of soil erosion and soil leakage in karst peak-cluster areas of Southwest China

Through utilizing water flow monitoring, rock scratching, soil wood piles and radionuclide 137Cs tracing in the Longhe karst ecological experimental site (hereinafter referred to“Longhe site”), Pingguo County, Guangxi Province, the features and values of soil erosion and soil leakage in different geomorphologic locations and land uses in the karst peak-cluster depressions are showed clearly. There are four kinds of geomorphologic locations in the karst peak-cluster depression, namely peaks, strip, slopes and depression. The soil leakage modulus in the peaks and strips respectively occupy 92.43% and 96.24% of the total mean soil erosion modulus at experimental sites. On the slope, soil leakage accounted for about 75%. At the bottom of depression, surface water was the main factor of soil erosion, and at last most soil leaked into underground rivers from sinkholes. The total soil erosion modulus and the contribution rates of relative surface soil erosion in regard of peaks, slopes and depressions gradually increased. There are also five major types of land use in the karst peak-cluster depressions, farmland, Kudingcha tea plantations, young Lignum Sappan fields, shrub-grassland and pastures. The soil erosion modulus of slope farmland has the highest value with an increasing trend year by year. But soil erosion modulus of other four land use types decreased by year, which shows the “grain for green” will result in better soil protection. By handling with rocky desertification and ecological rehabilitation in Longhe site, the mean soil erosion modulus of the karst peak-cluster depression has decreased about 80% from 2003 to 2015.     

基于GIS重庆岩溶地区生态环境脆弱度评价

重庆岩溶区属典型的生态环境脆弱区,宜耕地资源不足,土地退化严重,承受自然灾害能力低,使岩溶地区的社会经济发展和生态环境的协调性差,可持续发展能力弱。本文以重庆市岩溶地区为例,选择碳酸盐岩出露面积、山地面积、旱坡耕地面积、石漠化程度(包括轻度、中度和高度)、森林覆盖率、水土流失面积、土壤侵蚀模数、滑坡体积密度、垦殖指数、人均耕地面积、农业人口密度等13项生态环境脆弱度影响因子作为评价指标,利用层次分析法赋予指标权重,然后构建模糊数学模型对岩溶地区生态环境脆弱度进行评价研究,基于GIS技术对评价结果进行等级划分。结果表明: 重庆25个岩溶区县中潜在脆弱区县3个,轻度脆弱区县10个,中度脆弱区县6个,重度脆弱区县6个。      

基于EOS-MODIS的广西全境石漠化信息提取方法研究

喀斯特石漠化是发生在亚热带岩溶地貌中的土地退化过程,其显著特征为土壤严重侵蚀、基岩裸露、植被退化、土地生产力下降。石漠化既制约当地的经济发展,又可能引起小环境气候的恶化,同时也破坏生物多样性,危及生态环境自然景观。因此,研究石漠化,分析其成因和分布特征对喀斯特地区的防灾减灾以及可持续发展具有十分重大的意义。EOS-MODIS数据所固有的优点(获取便捷、覆盖范围广、成像周期短),使其成为理想的大范围石漠化研究的潜在遥感数据源。     

Assessing soil erosion in Mediterranean karst landscapes of Lebanon using remote sensing and GIS

Maps showing the potential for soil erosion at 1:100,000 scale are produced in a study area within Lebanon that can be used for evaluating erosion of Mediterranean karstic terrain with two different sets of impact factors built into an erosion model. The first set of factors is: soil erodibility, morphology, land cover/use and rainfall erosivity. The second is obtained by the first adding a fifth factor, rock infiltration. High infiltration can reflect high recharge, therefore decreasing the potential of surface runoff and hence the quantity of transported materials. Infiltration is derived as a function of lithology, lineament density, karstification and drainage density, all of which can be easily extracted from satellite imagery. The influence of these factors is assessed by a weight/rate approach sharing similarities between quantitative and qualitative methods and depending on pair-wise comparison matrix.The main outcome was the production of factorial maps and erosion susceptibility maps (scale 1:100,000). Spatial and attribute comparison of erosion maps indicates that the model that includes a measure of rock infiltration better represents erosion potential. Field investigation of rills and gullies shows 87.5% precision of the model with rock infiltration. This is 17.5% greater than the precision of the model without rock infiltration. These results indicate the necessity and importance of integrating information on infiltration of rock outcrops to assess soil erosion in Mediterranean karst landscapes.     

干旱区绿洲退耕还林工程绩效评价研究——以张掖市为例

退耕还林,重建生态环境,是当前实施西部大开发的根本切人点.退耕还林工程是通过把原本是林地或草地的耕地恢复成原来的土地利用类型,使受损或退化生态系统最终成为健康的生态系统,从而使当地生态环境更适合人类生存发展.从此目标出发,抛开经济利益而从自然生态系统恢复和社会心理影响等方面建立指标体系,利用主成分分析法综合评价了干旱区内张掖市的退耕还林绩效.结果表明:2002-2004年张掖市退耕还林工程执行效果较好,其中生态系统在数量上恢复较好的乡镇有明花乡;生态系统在质量上恢复较好的有明花乡和平川镇;工程执行过程中居民保护环境意识有较大提高的有民联乡和霍城镇;人们满意程度最高的是明花乡.总体上看,张掖市退耕还林工程执行绩效最好的是明花乡,其次是平川镇,最差的是永固镇,其余处于中间水平.最后,在分析张掖市退耕还林绩效差异基础上,针对提高退耕还林工程绩效提出一些建议.     

Rocky desertification and its causes in karst areas: a case study in Yongshun County,Hunan Province,China

Rocky desertification, a process of land degradation characterized by soil erosion and bedrock exposure, is one of the most serious land degradation problems in karst areas, and is regarded as an obstacle to local sustainable development. It is well known that human activities can accelerate rocky desertification; however, the effects of climate change on rocky desertification in karst areas are still unclear. This study focused on the effects of temperature and precipitation changes and human activities on rocky desertification in karst areas to determine the impacts of climate change and human disturbances on rocky desertification. Areas of different level of rocky desertification were obtained from Landsat TM (1987) and Landsat ETM+ (2000) images. The results show that, although the total desertification area increased by only 1.27% between 1987 and 2000, 17.73% of the slightly desertified land had degraded to a moderate or intense level, 2.01 and 15.71%, respectively. Meanwhile, between 1987 and 2000, the air temperature increased by 0.7°C, and precipitation increased by 170 mm. Statistical results indicate that the increase in precipitation was caused by heavy rainfall. In addition, under the interactive influences of heavy rainfall and temperature, the average karst dissolution rate was about 87 m³ km⁻² a⁻¹ during the 14 years in the study area. Further analysis indicated that rocky desertification was positively related with the increase in temperature and precipitation and especially with the heavy rainfall events. Climate change accelerated rocky desertification in the karst areas. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A “simple” geomatics-based approach for assessing water erosion hazard at montane areas

Soil erosion by water is recognised as a worldwide land degradation issue, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. The aim of this study is to apply the powerful capabilities of advanced remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to identify the areas at risk to water erosion. This study presents the assessment of water erosion in mountainous areas (eastern Aures, Algeria) based on three main factors: the friability of the bedrock, degree of slope and density of vegetation cover. Alsat1 image was used to produce land use and vegetation (NDVI) maps. Digital elevation model was used in constructing the slope gradient map. The erosion risk map was obtained by the combination of indices assigned to thematic layers following multicriteria decision rules. Water erosion was generally not concerning in the eastern Aures (slight risk = 33 %, moderate risk = 44 % of the area). This simple–qualitative approach gave good results for assessing soil erosion equally to quantitative methods since 89.55 % of field verifications were accurate. The non-alarming state and the low rate of severe and extremely severe risk to erosion are due to (1) the low steep slopes, (2) the good quality of vegetation (forests with thick undergrowth), and which are occurring on (3) resistant materials of the substratum, and (4) the low human pressure. Results of this study, which may be conducted with reasonable costs and accuracy over large areas, are of significant help in prioritising areas in decision making and sustainable planning.     

Estimation of soil losses by USLE model using GIS at Mashhad plain, Northeast of Iran

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an erosion estimation model to assess the soil losses that would generally result from splash, sheet, and rill erosion. At the present study, spatial distribution of different erosion prone areas were identified by USLE model to determine the average annual soil losses at Mashhad plain, northeast of Iran. Soil losses were estimated on a 100?×?100 m cell basis resolution by overlaying the five digital parameter layers (R, K, LS, C, P). To determine the critical soil loss regions at the plain, cell-based USLE parameters were multiplied by Arc-GIS ver.9.3. The estimated annual soil losses values were subsequently grouped into five classes ranging from 0 to 0.25 t/h/year around the trough line of the plain at Kashaf-rud River to 2–10 t/ha/year at the hills and pediment plains. Our results indicated a good correlation between land units of hills and pediment plains with the values of soil losses at the study area (R ² ?=?0.72), also the statistical analysis exhibited a high correlation between land use/cover of dry farming and soil losses (R ² ?=?0.78).