Soil Water Erosion and Its Hydrodynamic Characteristics in Degraded Bald Patches of Alpine Meadows in the Yellow River Source Area, Western China

Shengchun Tong, Guorong Li (), Xilai Li, Jinfang Li, Hui Zhai, Jianyun Zhao, Haili Zhu, Yabin Liu, Wenting Chen and Xiasong Hu
Additional contact information
Shengchun Tong: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Guorong Li: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Xilai Li: State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Jinfang Li: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Hui Zhai: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Jianyun Zhao: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Haili Zhu: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Yabin Liu: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Wenting Chen: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
Xiasong Hu: Geological Engineering Department, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Degraded bald patches have been active influencing factors in recent years, leading to meadow degradation and soil erosion in the Yellow River source area. In this study, we aimed to quantify the soil water erosion patterns and the hydrodynamic characteristics of degraded bald patches under different vegetation coverage (10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 90%) and slope (10°, 20° and 30°) combination treatments through simulated rainfall experiments, and to investigate the influence of rodent activities on meadow degradation and soil erosion using zokor mound bare ground as a control. The results show that rodent activity exacerbates erosion problems and that soil erosion rates are negatively correlated with the degree of meadow degradation as an exponential function ( p < 0.01). All slope flows are laminar; Reynolds and Froude numbers decrease as a function of vegetation coverage exponentially and linearly ( p < 0.01), respectively, and are positively correlated with slope. Flow resistance increases with increasing vegetation coverage and decreasing slope, and vegetation coverage and slope are significant factors affecting flow resistance ( p < 0.05). Runoff shear stress was found to range from 1.71 to 5.27 N m −2 in the study area and is positively correlated with vegetation coverage and slope, with a much greater influence of slope than vegetation coverage ( p < 0.05). Based on the Pearson correlation and grey correlation method analysis, we concluded that runoff rate, flow velocity, Reynolds number and the Froude number can all describe the hydraulic erosion state under the action of soil erosion on slopes. The Reynolds number was tentatively judged to be the best hydrodynamic parameter to describe the soil erosion process. We conclude that developing degraded bald patches reduces flow resistance and increases surface runoff capacity and soil erodibility by reducing vegetation coverage. The reasonable control of rodent activity can effectively combat erosion on degraded bald patches.

Keywords: soil erosion; hydrodynamic parameters; vegetation coverage; slope; alpine meadows; Yellow River source area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/8165/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/8165/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:8165-:d:1149401

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().