Monitoring the Cultivated Slope Land in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Based on Remote Sensing and GIS

By means of combining auto-extraction with manual interpretation, the current distribution information about cultivated land is obtained. The distribution information of 1992 is extracted from the dynamic polygons of 2002. The monitoring mini-system of the cultivated slope land is established. In the system, detailed surveys, focused on the resources of cultivated slope land, are carried out. The results indicate that the area of the cultivated slope land is very large. Meanwhile, there are lots of cultivated steep slopes with gradient above 35°. The areas of steep land cultivated had been slowly reduced from 1992 to 2002. At the same time, the pressures of returning farm land to forestry are great in all counties. The conflicts between population growth, insufficient grain supply and stagnant economic development sharpen increasingly. It is inevitable to improve the agricultural structure.

Water Availability for Winter Wheat Affected by Summer Fallow Tillage Practices in Slope Dryland

The tillage experiments for winter wheat were conducted on the slope farmland in Luoyang, Henan Province in the semihumid to arid loess plateau areas of North China. Different tillage methods including reduced tillage(RT), no-till(NT), 2 crops/year(2C), subsoiling(SS), and conventional tillage(CT)were compared to determine the effects of tillage methods on soil water conservation, water availability, and wheat yields in a search for better farming systems in the areas. The NT and SS showed good effects on water conservation. The soil water storage increased 12 - 33 mm with NT and 9-24 mm with SS at the end of summer fallow periods. The soil evaporation with NT and SS decreased 7-8 mm and 34 - 36 mm during the fallow periods of 1999 and 2001, respectively. Evapotranspiration(ET)with NT and SS increased about 47 mm during wheat growth periods of 2000 to 2001. Treatment RT and 2C had low water storage and high water losses during the fallow periods. The winter wheat yields with conservation tillage practices were improved in the 2nd year, increased by 3, 5 and 8% with RT, NT and SS, respectively, compared with CT. The highest wheat yields were obtained with subsoiling, and the maximum economic benefits from no-till. All conservation tillage practices provided great benefits to saving energy and labors, reducing operation inputs, and increasing economic returns. No-till and subsoiling have shown promise in increasing water storage, reducing water loss, enhancing water availability, and saving energy, as well as increasing wheat yield.

Construction of Forest and Grass Industry Economic Belt Using Land Resources in Road Side Slope

The construction of expressway and high-speed rail is at the sacrifice of the soil ecological environment. It brings about much damaged land and bare slope. It is necessary to restore vegetation and rebuild landscape. In the design of target plant community and configuration plants,it is required to select as far as possible plants that can blossom and bear fruit or pods. Then seeds of these plants can be harvested,processed and sold,and applied for other projects,so as to develop into a complete forest and grass seed industry chain. This not only reasonably utilizes land resources,but also provides a new approach to the problem of insufficient fine forest seed sources in China. This paper discussed the use of land resources in road side slope and forest and grass seed selection and breeding technology,and elaborated the industrialized development paths for forest and grass seed industries in road side slope. Finally,it arrived at following recommendations.( i) The construction of forest and grass industry economic belt using land resources in road side slope can realize maximum land value. Building a road can help people there get rich,and the type of land and water cultivates its type of forest and grass.( ii) It can make up for the losses incurred from construction of expressway and high-speed rail or destroying forest land,and it can increase farmers' income.( iii) It can increase the supply of domestic seeds,reduce seed import,save foreign exchange,and partly solve the problem of insufficient supply of forest and grass seeds.( iv) It is able to form a complete forest and grass seed industry economic cycle chain,increase employment,and provide new approaches for enriching and benefiting farmers.

Soil Atterberg Limits and Consistency Indices as Influenced by Land Use and Slope Position in Western Iran

Atterberg limits and consistency indices are used for classifications of cohesive(fine-grained) soils in relation with compaction and tillage practices. They also provide information for interpreting several soil mechanical and physical properties such as shear strength, compressibility, shrinkage and swelling potentials. Although, several studies have been conducted regarding the land use effects on various soil mechanical properties, little is known about the effects of land use and slope positions on Atterberg limits and consistency indices. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of land use and slope position on selected soil physical and chemical properties, Atterberg limits and consistency indices in hilly region of western Iran. Three land uses including dryland farming, irrigated farming and pasture and four slope positions(i.e., shoulder, backslope, footslope, and toeslope) were used for soil samplings. One hundred eleven soil samples were collected from the surface soil(0-10 cm). Selected physical and chemical properties, liquid limit(LL), plastic limit(PL) and shrinkage limit(SL) were measured using the standard methods; and consistency indices including plastic index(PI), friability index(FI), shrinkage index(SI) and soil activity(A=PI/clay) were calculated. The results showed that irrigated farming significantly increased organic matter content(OM) and OM/clay ratio, and decreased bulk density(ρb) and relative bulk density(ρb-rel) as a result of higher biomass production and plant residues added to the soil compared to other land uses. Except for sand content, OM, ρb, cation exchange capacity(CEC) and calcium carbonate equivalent(CCE), slope position significantly affected soil physical and chemical properties. The highest values of silt, OM/clay and CEC/clay were found in the toeslope position, predominantly induced by soil redistribution within the landscape. The use of complexed(COC)- noncomplexed organic carbon(NCOC) concept indicated that majority of the studied soils were located below the saturation line and the OM in the soils was mainly in the COC form. The LL, PI, FI and A showed significant differences among the land uses; the highest values belonged to the irrigated farming due to high biomass production and plant residues returned to the soils. Furthermore, slope position significantly affected the Atterberg limits and consistency indices except for SL. The highest values of LL, PI, SI and A were observed in the toeslope position probably because of higher OM and CEC/clay due to greater amount of expandable phyllosilicate clays. Overall, soils on the toeslope under irrigated farming with high LL and SI and low values of FI need careful tillage management to avoid soil compaction.

Soil Organic Carbon Pools in Particle-Size Fractions as Affected by Slope Gradient and Land Use Change in Hilly Regions,Western Iran

This study was conducted to explore the effects of topography and land use changes on particulate organic carbon(POC),particulate total nitrogen(PTN),organic carbon(OC) and total nitrogen(TN) associated with different size primary particle fractions in hilly regions of western Iran.Three popular land uses in the selected site including natural forest(NF),disturbed forest(DF) and cultivated land(CL) and three slope gradients(0-10 %,S1,10-30 %,S2,and 30-50%,S3) were employed as the basis of soil sampling.A total of 99 soil samples were taken from the 0-10 cm surface layer in the whole studied hilly region studied.The results showed that the POC in the forest land use in all slope gradients was considerably more than the deforested and cultivated lands and the highest value was observed at NF-S1 treatment with 9.13%.The values of PTN were significantly higher in the forest land use and in the down slopes(0.5%) than in the deforested and cultivated counterparts and steep slopes(0.09%) except for the CL land use.The C:N ratios in POC fraction were around 17-18 in the forest land and around 23 in the cultivated land.In forest land,the silt-associated OC was highest among the primary particles.The enrichment factor of SOC,EC,was the highest for POC.For the primary particles,EC of both primary fractions of silt and clay showed following trend for selected land uses and slope gradients:CL> DF> NF and S3 > S2> S1.Slope gradient of landscape significantly affected the OC and TN contents associated with the silt and clay particles,whereas higher OC and TN contents were observed in lower positions and the lowest value was measured in the steep slopes.Overall,the results showed that native forest land improves soil organic carbon storage and can reduce the carbon emission and soil erosion especially in the mountainous regions with high rainfall in west of Iran.

Sustainable land-use patterns for arid lands: A case study in the northern slope areas of the Tianshan Mountains

Sustainable land use patterns are ecological and economic prerequisites of regional sustainable development. This is especially true for arid lands, where the environment is wholly fragile thanks to extremely limited precipitation, and where human activities have greatly transformed natural desert system by clearing natural vegetation, expanding oases and even building dams on inland rivers. However, the current studies on land use patterns are still characterized by field investigations and case studies, with almost no solid scientific basis. This paper holds that land types and their combination patterns are the principal basis for designing sustainable land use patterns, and that GIS and RS-based large-scale land type mapping and the study of their spatial combination structures should be coordinated with the demand of social development. The existing environmental problems induced by irrational land use mostly result from their deviation from the natural properties of land types. Taking the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains （NSTM） as an example and considering land type patterns as the basis of land use patterns, this paper improves the vertical oa- sis-and-mid-mountain two-belts development model and the sustainable mountain land use model for arid lands put forward in recent years; and in terms of oases patterns, it outlines oasis development models, including intensive land use pattern in alluvial-diluvial fans, moderate agricultural development pattern in alluvial plains, and ecological land use pattern in river-end oases.

Landscape Ecological Security Assessment of Low-Slope Hilly Region in Lu County,China

Low-slope hilly land( LSHL) refers to regions with relatively lower altitude,smaller topographic changes and gentler slopes. Exploitation and utilization of such areas is acting as an efficient approach to release the intensity in land utilization for mountainous areas in China, and needs further study. By summarizing related domestic concepts regarding LSHL,and taking Lu County of Sichuan province as the sample,this paper defined the scope of LSHL and extracted a total coverage of 331. 71 km2 LSHL.Then based on the landscape ecological security patterns theory,we have established the landscape ecological security pattern of Lu County by the minimum cumulative resistance model,targeting to achieve ecological land protection. Moreover,LSHL of different landscape security levels is further classified through overlay analysis on the current utilization status of the LSHL. The LSHL is classified into four categories, including prioritized development type,moderate development type, limited development type and prohibited development type. Their scopes of areas are 108. 72,97. 03,68. 36 and 57. 60 km2 respectively. In addition,respective land utilization and exploitation plan for LSHL are proposed according to the analysis of characteristics of each type. The result has provided scientific references for the definition,establishment of landscape ecological security pattern as well as the appropriate exploitation and utilization of the LSHL.

Interactions between water-land resources and oasis urban development at the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains,Xinjiang,China

Urban development in arid and semi-arid regions is largely constrained by fragile physical environ- ments. The characteristics of an urban settlement are different from those in other regions of China. This paper analyses the coupling characteristics and spatio-temporal variations for oasis urban development and water-land resources at the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains by principal component analysis and a coupling degree model. The result shows that the degree and change in regional use of water and land resources are different among the studied cities/counties during their development. The built-up areas of these cities/counties have changed little with increasing populations and urbanization levels, which well reflects that the urban development in arid and semi-arid regions is limited by oasis areas. Per capita amount of water supplied, however, presented a trend of slowed growth with increasing levels of urbanization. Water consumption gradually increased with urban development and the improvement of people＇s living standards, accompanied by enhanced water use efficiency. The level of urbanization can be assessed through the coupling degree between oasis urban development and the use of water and land resources. A high coupling degree represents a high level of comprehensive urban devel- opment and use of water-land resources. Alternatively, a low coupling degree denotes a low level of urban devel- opment and water-land resource use.

基于Landsat8的凤永高速地表温度反演

在隧道建设过程中,高地温热害会影响机械设备效率和施工进度,还会恶化作业环境、对人员安全造成威胁,因此,精准识别地热异常区对隧道建设非常重要。热红外遥感是用遥感的方法探测地球表面的温度,以此为基础利用遥感技术反演地表温度愈发可靠。以云南省凤永高速凤庆-领岗地隧道为研究区域,采用Landsat8影像数据,运用大气校正法对研究区进行地表温度反演,再利用DEM数据制作地形坡向文件,按阳坡、阴坡分布提取地表温度,结合地质构造对地表温度异常进行分析,圈定地热异常区。

Error Analysis on Gradient Information of Sloping Land Derived from the Low-resolution DEM

With digital elevation model （DEM）,sloping data were extracted automatically and soil erosion situation was also investigated. Compared with field survey and the related studies,the results showed that parallel range-gorge landform in Three Gorges reservoir area,the inter-bedded structures formed by Jurassic purple clay （page） rocks and human activities were the key controlling factors for small-scale sloping terrain.

Study of Spatial and Temporal Processes of Soil Erosion on Sloping Land Using Rare Earth Elements As Tracers

Rare earth elements (REE) were used to study the temporal and spatial processes of soil erosion from different depths and sections of a slope. Two simulated rainfall events were applied to a prepared plot with a slope of 22°. The total runoff and sediment yield were collected every minute during the rainfall events. During the first twenty minutes of the first rainfall event, the average rate of rill erosion and the accumulated sediment yield due to rill erosion was 0.5 and 0.3 times higher than for sheet erosion. During this time, most of the erosion occurred on the lower one third of the plot. After 20 min, rill erosion became the dominant process on the slope. The average acceleration in the rate of rill erosion, the rate of rill erosion and the accumulated sediment yield due to rill erosion were 42, 6 and 4 times higher than that of sheet erosion, respectively. During the first 35 minutes of the second rainfall event, the average acceleration in the rate of rill erosion was 6～9 times higher than that of sheet erosion. Afterwards, the slope became nearly stable with little change in either rill or sheet erosion rates. Initially, most of the rill erosion occurred in the lower third of the slope but later the preexisting rillhead in the middle section of the slope became reactivated and erosion in this section of the slope increased rapidly. These results indicate that REE tracer technology is a valuable tool for quantifying spatial and temporal changes in erosion from a soil slope.

基于KQ Landps耕地坡度分级图数据库赋值方法

针对1∶10 000坡度分级数据出现的问题,通过空间校正、投影变换等方法,实现对农村土地调查数据库中耕地坡度级别属性的自动配赋,建立耕地坡度分级信息系统,为土地信息化管理提供支持。

Effectiveness of sloping agricultural land technology on soil fertility status of mid-hills in Nepal

Hedgerows with intercropping systems were established at the ICIMOD test and demonstration site at Godawari to assess the effective- ness of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology （SALT） in reducing run- off water volume, controlling soil loss, increasing crop production, and improving soil fertility in the mid-hills of Nepal. Runoff water volume （1996-2002）, soil loss （1996-2002） and maize yield （1995-2001）, and soil fertility-related parameters were assessed on SALT models with three factors： the type of nitrogen-fixing plant, the farmers＇ practice, and fertilizer use. Results showed a significant effect of Alnus nepalensis and/or Indigofera dosua on runoff water volume, soil loss, crop produc- tion, soil water retention, and soil nutrients （NPK）. Farmers＇ practice and fertilization did not play a significant role in reducing runoff water and soil loss. However, farmers＇ practice significantly increased crop produc- tion. Therefore, integrating soil conservation approaches on SALT sys- tems enhances stable economic output to hills and mountain farmers.

Subsurface Flow Processes in Sloping Cropland of Purple Soil

Subsurface flow is a prominent runoff process in sloping lands of purple soil in the upper Yangtze River basin.However,it remains difficult to identify and quantify.In this study,in situ runoff experimental plots were used to measure soil moisture dynamics using an array of time domain reflectometry(TDR) together with overland flow and subsurface flow using isolated collecting troughs.Frequency of preferential flow during rainfall events and the controls of subsurface flow processes were investigated through combined analysis of soil properties,topography,rainfall intensity,initial wetness,and tillage.Results showed that subsurface flow was ubiquitous in purple soil profiles due to welldeveloped macropores,especially in surface soils while frequency of preferential flow occurrence was very low(only 2 cases in plot C) during all 22 rainfall events.Dry antecedent moisture conditions promoted the occurrence of preferential flow.However,consecutive real-time monitoring of soil moisture at different depths and various slope positions implied the possible occurrence of multiple subsurface lateral flows during intensive storms.Rainfall intensity,tillage operation,and soil properties were recognized as main controls of subsurface flow in the study area,which allows the optimization of management practices for alleviating adverse environmental effects of subsurface flow in the region.

Using negative exponential function to characterize built-up land density along slope gradient for 19 urban areas in China

In China,numerous cities are expanding into sloping land,yet the quantitative distribution patterns of urban built-up land density along the slope gradient remain unclear,limiting the understanding of sloping land urbanization.In this paper,a simple negative exponential function was presented to verify its applicability in 19 typical sloping urban areas in China.The function fits well for all case urban areas(R^(2)≥0.951,p<0.001).The parameters of this function clearly describe two fundamental attributes:initial value a and decline rate b.Between 2000 and 2020,a tends to increase,while b tends to decrease in all urban areas,confirming the hypothesis of mutual promotion between flatland densification and sloping land expansion.Multiple regression analysis indicates that the built-up land density and the ruggedness of background land can explain 70.7%of a,while the average slope ratio of built-up land to background land,the built-up land density and the built-up land area can explain 82.1%of b.This work provides a quantitative investigative tool for distribution of urban built-up land density along slope gradient,aiding in the study of the globally increasing phenomenon of sloping land urbanization from a new perspective.

Soil Erosion and Its Relationship to the Spatial Distribution of Land Use Patterns in the Lancang River Watershed, Yunnan Province, China

The Lancang River Watershed is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. The river flows through Yunnan Province, China, which suffered serious deforestation since the 1980s;this in turn led to increased soil erosion in the region. To investigate the influence of the spatial distribution of land use and slope on soil erosion in the Lancang River Watershed, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to establish hydrological models using two-phase land use maps (1975 and 1985), a soil map, and meteorological data from 11 gauging stations. The satisfactory values of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency Ens and correlation coefficient R2 during the calibration and validation period indicated that SWAT can be used in this area to simulate the average annual soil erosion under different land use scenarios change. By comparing soil erosion rate under different land use scenarios change, forests and grasslands had similar effects on preventing soil erosion. A parameter, soil erosion increment (Ei), was used to assess the effects of slope on soil erosion. The results revealed that variation in sediment yield was more sensitive to land use change for slopes exceeded 25° than for slopes being 0° - 15°. The spatial distribution of land use also had a relationship to soil erosion. Compared with the soil erosion rate in each sub-watershed using two-phase land use maps, the soil erosion rate increased when the percent cover of natural vegetation decreased. The results of this study provide baseline data for soil conservation and protection of the environment and ecology of the Lancang River Watershed in Yunnan Province.

A New Rainwater Harvesting and Recycling System for Transforming Sloping Land into Terraced Farmland

Transforming sloping land into terraced land is an effective approach to cope with the problems including farmland shortage and severe soil erosion.This paper introduces a new system based on rainwater harvesting and recycling technology,which may effectively improve farmland productivity rainwater use efficiency and reduce water and fertilizer inputs.The new system consists of three subsystems：1） A plough layer with the dual function of crop cultivation and rainwater harvesting; 2） A tank below the plough layer for storing water; 3） An irrigation-drainage subsystem.The plough layer and the storage tank,both treated for reducing seepage,are connected through the irrigation and drainage system.Results showed that,compared with the traditional paddy fields,rice evapotranspiration（ and crop coefficient） in the test field remained at a similar level,while the irrigation amount was reduced by 44.3% under the condition of basin irrigation,and the drainage amount decreased by 86.6%,and the non-point source pollution was reduced to 67.7%~87.9%,and the rainwater utilization efficiency increased by 30% and reached 95.4%,and crop yield of middle-season rice reached 9,975 kg/hm2,which was only 0.4% lower than that in the traditional paddy field in the terms of dry matter.The new technology sheds light on new possibilities for transformation of hilly sloping land.

Study on the Response of Soil Nutrient Content to Soil Loss in Karst Sloping Land of Southwest China

[ Objective] The study aimed to analyze the response of soil nutrient content to soil loss in karst sloping land of Southwest China. [Method] Choosing a karst sloping land in Nanchuan, Chongqing City as a sampling area, we analyzed the basic physical and chemical properties of soils at different sampling points, as well as the movement of Mg, Cu, Zn, Mg, Mo and Mn in the soils. [ Result] In the sloping land, there was a var- ying decrease in the content of all soil nutrients from the top to the bottom, but there was no obvious deposit at the bottom. In addition, Mg, Cu, Zn, Mg, Mo and Mn content had clear inflections in the sloping land, and these inflections mainly appeared at 15 -25 m. It proved that both surface soil erosion and underground soil leaching occurred at the same time in the karst sloping land. [Conclusion] The research could provide scientific references for the restoration of ecosystem in karst mountainous areas.

A Study on Tropical Land Cover Classification Using ALOS PALSAR 50 m Ortho-Rectified Mosaic Data

The main objective of this study is to find better classifier of mapping tropical land covers using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. The data used are Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) 50 m ortho-rectified mosaic data. Training data for forest, herbaceous, agriculture, urban and water body in the test area located in Kalimantan were collected. To achieve more accurate classification, a modified slope correction formula was created to calibrate the intensity distortions of SAR data. The accuracy of two classifiers called Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) and Random Forest (RF) were applied and compared in this study. We focused on object-based approach due to its capability of providing both spatial and spectral information. Optimal combination of features was selected from 32 sets of features based on layer value, texture and geometry. The overall accuracy of land cover classification using RF classifier and SMO classifier was 46.8% and 55.6% respectively, and that of forest and non-forest classification was 74.4% and 79.4% respectively. This indicates that RF classifier has better performance than SMO classifier.

Effects of Topographic Slopes on Hydrological Proecsses and Climate

Based on previous research results on river re-distribution models, a modification on the effects of topographic slopes for a runoff parameterization was proposed and implemented to the NCAR's land sur- face model (LSM). This modification has two aspects firstly, the topographic slopes cause outflows from higher topography and inflows into the lower topography points; secondly, topographic slopes also cause decrease of infiltration at higher topography and increases of infiltration at lower topography. Then changes in infiltration result in changes in soil molsture, surface fluxes and then in surface temperature, and eventual- ly in the upper atmosphere and the climate. This mechanism is very clearly demonstrated in the point bud- gets analysis at the Andes Mountains vicinities. Analysis from a regional scale perspective in the Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS) area, the focus of the ongoing Canadian GEWEX program, shows that the modi- fied runoff parameterization does bring significant changes in the regional surface climate More important- ly, detailed analysis from a global perspective shows many encouraging improvements introduced by the modified LSM over the original model in simulating basic atmospheric climate properties such as thermodynamic features (temperature and humidity). All of these improvements in the atmospheric climate simulation illustrate that the inclusion of topographic effects in the LSM can force the AGCM to produce a more realistic model climate.