Features of soil redistribution and major element migration in a karst hillslope of Southwest China

In this study, we investigated the spatial characteristics of the rate of soil distribution and the mechanism of major element migration in a typical karst hillslope in Guangxi Province, Southwestern China. Soil redistribution was examined using (137~)Cs technique under different hillslope components. With the combination of geochemical methods, the migration characteristics of major elements in soils of three hillslope components in both the horizontal and vertical directions were determined. Thirty-seven soil samples were collected and analyzed for 137 Cs and the major elements were determined. By using the profile distribution model the mean soil redistribution rates were found to be-17.01, 0.40 and-23.30t ha-1 yr-1 in the summit(BYSD), shoulder(BYSY) and toeslope(BYSJ) components of the studied hillslope, respectively. In comparison to BYSD, the sesquioxides of Fe_2O_3 and TiO_2 tend to be enriched, whereas the alkalis(CaO, MgO, Na_2O and K_2O) tend to be depleted, both in the shoulder and toeslope components. Due to human and animal activities, the contents of CaO, MgO, K_2O and Na_2O have somewhat increased within the topsoil. The results indicated that (137~)Cs activities are significantly correlated with clay particles and organic matter, and are affected by the pedogenic process and vegatation. Overall, it maybe necessary to use techniques such as (137~)Cs to investigate soil erosion with the combination of geochemical methods.

Comparison of SRTM-V4.1 and ASTER-V2.1 for Accurate Topographic Attributes and Hydrologic Indices Extraction in Flooded Areas

This research compares the potential of SRTM-V4.1 and ASTER-V2.1 with 30-m pixel size to derive topographic attributes （elevation, slopes, aspects, and flow accumulation） and hydrologic indices such as STI （sediment transport index）, CTI （compound topographic index） and SPI （stream power index） to detect areas associated with flash floods cansed by rainfall storms and sediment accumulation. The study area is Guelmim city in Morocco, which has been flooded several times over the past 50 years, and which was declared a ＂disaster area＂ in December 2014 after violent rainfall storms killed 46 people and caused significant damage to the infrastructure. The obtained results indicate that the SRTM DEM performs better than ASTER in terms of micro-topography, hydrologic-network and structural information characterization. In addition, with reference to a topographic contours map （1：50000）, the derived global height surfaces accuracies are ＋3.15 m and 4-9.17 m for SRTM and ASTER, respectively. These accuracies are significantly influenced by topography; errors are larger （SRTM = 11.34 m, ASTER = 19.20 m） for high altitude terrain with strong slopes, while they are smaller （SRTM = 1.92 m, ASTER = 3.76 m） in the low to medium-relief areas with indulgent slopes. Moreover, all the considered hydrological indices are significantly characterized with SRTM compared to ASTER. They demonstrated that the rainfall and the topographic morphology are the major contributing factors in flash flooding and catastrophic inundation in this area. The runoff waterpower delivers vulnerable topsoil and contributes strongly to the erosion and transport of soil material and sediment to the plain areas through waterpower and gravity. Likewise, the role of the lithology associated with the terrain morphology is decisive in the erosion risk and land degradation in this region.

Effects of soil rock fragment content on the USLE-K factor estimating and its influencing factors

Rock fragments are an important component of soil,and their presence has a significant impact on soil erosion and sediment yield.In this paper,the effects of rock fragments in the topsoil profile(RFP)and rock fragments on the soil surface(RFS)on the soil erodibility factor(K)were assessed at a global scale.The spatial pattern of the relationship between stoniness and erodibility(RS-K)and its predominant factors were explored through correlation analysis,pattern analysis,and random forest model analysis.The results were as followings:(1)The existence of RFP increased K by 2.84%.The RFS of the mountain land and desert/Gobi reduced K by 18.7%;therefore,once the RFP and RFS were taken into account in the calculation,K was 6.98%lower.(2)The predominant factors of the effect of RFS and the joint effect of RFP and RFS were elevation and slope gradient.The predominant factors of the effect of RFP were annual average precipitation and annual average temperature.(3)In assessing and mapping soil erosion in large regions,special attention should be given to areas with large rock fragment contents,a relatively high altitude,and the presence of steep slope.If rock fragments were not taken into consideration,the mapping results of soil erosion may be biased.This article made the calculation of K more complete and accurate,thereby improving the accuracy of regional soil erosion estimation.This research was of sig-nificance for the investigation of global hydrological effects and simulation of the global soil carbon budget.