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Assessing the USLE crop and management factor C for soil erosion modeling in a large mountainous watershed in Central China

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Abstract

Due to the impoundment of the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam in China fosters high land-use dynamics. Soil erosion is expected to increase dramatically. One of the key factors in soil erosion control is the vegetation cover and crop type. However, determining these factors adequately for the use in soil erosion modeling is very time-consuming especially for large mountainous areas, such as the Xiangxi (香溪) catchment in the Three Gorges area. In our study, the crop and management factor C was calculated using the fractional vegetation cover (C FVC) based on Landsat-TM images from 2005, 2006, and 2007 and on literature studies (C LIT). In 2007, the values of CFVC range between 0.001 and 0.98 in the Xiangxi catchment. The mean C FVC value is 0.05. C LIT values are distinctly higher, ranging from 0.08 to 0.46 with a mean value of 0.32 in the Xiangxi catchment. The mean potential soil loss amounts to 120.62 t/ha/a in the Xiangxi catchment when using C LIT for modeling. Based on C FVC, the predicted mean soil loss in the Xiangxi catchment is 11.50 t/ha/a. Therefore, C LIT appears to be more reliable than the C factor based on the fractional vegetation cover.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Department of Physical Geography and Soil Science, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Sarah Schönbrodt, Thorsten Behrens & Thomas Scholten

  2. Science Strategy, Coordination and Planning Office, European Space Agency-ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

    Patrick Saumer

  3. Center for International Development and Environmental Research, Giessen University, Giessen, Germany

    Christoph Seeber

Authors
  1. Sarah Schönbrodt
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  2. Patrick Saumer
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  3. Thorsten Behrens
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  4. Christoph Seeber
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  5. Thomas Scholten
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah Schönbrodt.

Additional information

This study was supported by the Federal German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (No. 03 G 0669), and coordinated by the German Jülich Research Centre (FZJ).

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Schönbrodt, S., Saumer, P., Behrens, T. et al. Assessing the USLE crop and management factor C for soil erosion modeling in a large mountainous watershed in Central China. J. Earth Sci. 21, 835–845 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-010-0135-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-010-0135-8

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