Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 74 ›› Issue (9): 1835-1852.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201909010

• Land Use and Ecological Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatiotemporal patterns of soil protection effect of the Grain for Green Project in northern Shaanxi

LIU Wenchao1,2,LIU Jiyuan1(),KUANG Wenhui1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    2. School of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
  • Received:2018-11-09 Revised:2019-07-27 Online:2019-09-25 Published:2019-09-25
  • Contact: LIU Jiyuan E-mail:liujy@igsnrr.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0500204);Doctor Foundation of Tianjin Normal University(52XB1622)

Abstract:

The study took northern Shaanxi, a key region of Grain for Green Project, as the research area. We firstly analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of cropland during 2000-2013 using the remotely sensed time series cropland. The RUSLE model was improved by taking terraced fields as a parameter, and then the soil erosion modulus (SEM) was simulated using the calibrated model. Finally, the impacts of the Grain for Green Project on the soil erosion were assessed by comparing SEM changes in shifted and unshifted cropland. The results indicated that, the SEM across the areas of "Grain for Green" decreased by 22.70 t/hm 2 from 2000 to 2010, accounting for 47.08% of that from the returned cropland in 2000. In the same period, the SEM from the unreturned cropland decreased by 10.99 t/hm 2, accounting for 28.60% of that from the unreturned land in 2000. For the whole study area, the SEM of different land use types averagely decreased by 14.51 t/hm 2, which is 41.87% of the SEM in northern Shaanxi in 2000. We concluded that "Grain for Green" could effectively reduce the SEM in northern Shaanxi and made the most contribution to soil protection. The Grain for Green Project entered a consolidation period after 2000 (during 2010-2013 in this study), and changes of the SEM during this period were thus relatively low.

Key words: northern Shaanxi, Grain for Green Project, remote sensing, RUSLE, soil erosion, soil protection