Decrease in Erosion‐Induced Soil Organic Carbon as a Result of Vegetation Restoration in the Loess Plateau, China. Issue 8 (11th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gou, Fen; Liang, Wei; Yan, Jianwu; Sun, Shaobo; Chen, Zhigang; Zhang, Weibin; Ji, Qiulei; Wang, Fengjiao
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 127:Issue 8(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-08-11
• Subjects: soil erosion -- soil organic carbon erosion -- RUSLE -- vegetation change -- Loess Plateau; Geobiology -- Periodicals; Biogeochemistry -- Periodicals; Biotic communities -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 577.14
• DOI: 10.1029/2022JG006917
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-8953

Abstract

Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) detachment and transport, especially in the eroded areas, has a profound influence on the global carbon cycling and climate. However, soil organic carbon erosion still has a high uncertainty on land C balance components for lack of a detailed capture of local topography and quantitative factors. Here, aimed at the Loess Plateau (LP) area with undulating terrain, we presented an unprecedentedly high resolution (90 × 90 m) soil erosion model, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and the contributions of vegetation to SOC erosion changes were quantified through factorial simulation. Our findings demonstrate soil organic carbon which induced a substantial lateral redistribution by soil erosion was 10.46 Tg C yr −1 over the period 2000–2017, which was a decrease of 21% compared with that before 2000. In the fixed‐NDVI scenario, after 2000, SOC erosion increased by around 7% compared with that before 2000. Agriculture and shrub are the primary source of regional soil erosion and SOC erosion. These findings highlight the importance of lateral transport of SOC as an important process in soil and carbon cycles for future regional carbon cycle assessment. Plain Language Summary: Erosion‐induced soil transport and deposition change the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon, which has a profound influence on global carbon balance and climate environment. As a common focus of climate change and soil degradation, the impact of soil erosion on soil organic carbon has attracted wide attention. Generally, researches on soil organic carbon erosion lack detailed capture of local topography and quantitative factors. We provide quantitative, thorough and detailed estimates of soil erosion in Loess Plateau by means of a high‐resolution, spatially distributed, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation‐based modeling approach. Unlike previous studies that dealt with soil erosion as a static process, here we shed light on the impacts of land use change on soil erosion. The contributions of vegetation to SOC erosion changes were quantified through factorial simulation. Our results indicated that the simulation model with a resolution of 90 m can detailly describe the local soil erosion and SOC erosion. The importance of the use of high precision data in erosional key areas is revealed, and continuous high precision data are also provided for modeling of hydrological models. Key Points: Based on a high‐resolution, continuous spatially distributed landuse, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation was used to estimate quantitative, detailed soil erosion Soil organic carbon (SOC) erosion displayed a similar spatial pattern with soil erosion SOC erosion in the Loess Plateau was 10.46 Tg C yr −1 over the period 2000–2017, which was a decrease of 21% compared with that before 2000