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Journal of Groundwater Science and Engineering 2023, 11(1): 4-19 https://doi.org/10.26599/JGSE.2023.9280002
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 20 March 2023

Regulation of vegetation pattern on the hydrodynamic processes of erosion on hillslope in Loess Plateau, China

Show Author's Information Guo-Qiang Yu1,2,  Qian Wang1,2,  Li-Feng Zhu1,2( ),  Xia Zhang3
Key Laboratory of Groundwater and Ecology in Arid and Semi-arid Areas, Xi’an Center of Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Xi’an 710054, China
Shaanxi Province Engineering Research Centre of Water Resources and Environment, Xi’an 710054, China
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China
Keywords:
Sediment transport, Soil erosion, Grass strip, Scouring experiment, Regulating mechanism, Loess Plateau
Cite this article:
Yu G-Q, Wang Q, Zhu L-F, et al. Regulation of vegetation pattern on the hydrodynamic processes of erosion on hillslope in Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Groundwater Science and Engineering, 2023, 11(1): 4-19. https://doi.org/10.26599/JGSE.2023.9280002
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Abstract Full text About this article

As vegetation are closely related to soil erosion, hydrodynamic parameter changes under various vegetation pattern conditions can be used as an important basis for the research of the soil erosion mechanism. Through upstream water inflow experiments conducted on a loess hillslope, how the vegetation pattern influences the hydrodynamic processes of sediment transport was analyzed. The results show that the placement of a grass strip on the lower upslope can effectively reduce runoff erosion by 69%, relying on the efficiency of regulated hydrodynamic process. The effective location of grass strip for hillslope alleviating erosion is on the lower part of the upslope, mainly due to the grass strip measure used to regulate the hydrodynamic system. As a result, the underlying surface runoff resistance is increased by 5 times, runoff shear stress is decreased by more than 90%, and runoff power decreased by over 92%. The measure greatly separates the scouring energy of surface runoff that acts on the slope soil. Therefore, the use of grass strips effectively decreases the energy of runoff flowing along the slope, eliminating soil erosion to a great extent and thereby achieving a better regulation of hydrodynamic processe.


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About this article

Regulation of vegetation pattern on the hydrodynamic processes of erosion on hillslope in Loess Plateau, China

Show Author's information Guo-Qiang Yu1,2, Qian Wang1,2, Li-Feng Zhu1,2( ), Xia Zhang3
Key Laboratory of Groundwater and Ecology in Arid and Semi-arid Areas, Xi’an Center of Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Xi’an 710054, China
Shaanxi Province Engineering Research Centre of Water Resources and Environment, Xi’an 710054, China
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China

Abstract

As vegetation are closely related to soil erosion, hydrodynamic parameter changes under various vegetation pattern conditions can be used as an important basis for the research of the soil erosion mechanism. Through upstream water inflow experiments conducted on a loess hillslope, how the vegetation pattern influences the hydrodynamic processes of sediment transport was analyzed. The results show that the placement of a grass strip on the lower upslope can effectively reduce runoff erosion by 69%, relying on the efficiency of regulated hydrodynamic process. The effective location of grass strip for hillslope alleviating erosion is on the lower part of the upslope, mainly due to the grass strip measure used to regulate the hydrodynamic system. As a result, the underlying surface runoff resistance is increased by 5 times, runoff shear stress is decreased by more than 90%, and runoff power decreased by over 92%. The measure greatly separates the scouring energy of surface runoff that acts on the slope soil. Therefore, the use of grass strips effectively decreases the energy of runoff flowing along the slope, eliminating soil erosion to a great extent and thereby achieving a better regulation of hydrodynamic processe.

Keywords: Sediment transport, Soil erosion, Grass strip, Scouring experiment, Regulating mechanism, Loess Plateau

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Publication history

Received: 16 May 2022
Accepted: 15 January 2023
Published: 20 March 2023
Issue date: March 2023

Copyright

© 2023 Journal of Groundwater Science and Engineering Editorial Office

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This study was funded and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 42177346, 52009103, U2243240), Innovation Capability Support Program of Shaanxi (2019TD-040), and Observation and Research Station of Groundwater and Ecology in Yulin, Shaanxi, Ministry of Natural Resources. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions in improving the manuscript.

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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)

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