Estimating soil organic carbon redistribution in three major river basins of China based on erosion processes
Yan Yang
A B , Qiuan Zhu A G , Jinxun Liu C , Mingxu Li B , Minshu Yuan D , Huai Chen E , Changhui Peng E F and Zhenan Yang F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China.
B Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
C U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
D Center for Ecological Forecasting and Global Change, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
E Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.
F Institute of Environment Sciences, Department of Biology Sciences, University of Quebec at Montreal, Case Postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada.
G Corresponding author. Email: qiuan.zhu@gmail.com
Soil Research 58(6) 540-550 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR19325
Submitted: 12 November 2019 Accepted: 13 May 2020 Published: 8 July 2020
Abstract
Soil erosion by water affects soil organic carbon (SOC) migration and distribution, which are important processes for defining ecosystem carbon sources and sinks. Little has been done to quantify soil carbon erosion in the three major basins in China, the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River Basins, which contain the most eroded areas. This research attempts to quantify the lateral movement of SOC based on spatial and temporal patterns of water erosion rates derived from an empirical Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition Model (USPED) model. The water erosion rates simulated by the USPED model agreed reasonably with observations (R2 = 0.43, P < 0.01). We showed that regional water erosion ranged within 23.3–50 Mg ha–1 year–1 during 1992–2013, inducing the lateral redistribution of SOC caused by erosion in the range of 0.027–0.049 Mg C ha–1 year–1, and that caused by deposition of 0.0079–0.015 Mg C ha–1 year–1, in the three basins. The total eroded SOC was 0.006, 0.002 and 0.001 Pg year–1 in the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River Basins respectively. The net eroded SOC in the three basins was ~0.0075 Pg C year–1. Overall, the annual average redistributed SOC rate caused by erosion was greater than that caused by deposition, and the SOC loss in the Yangtze River Basin was greatest among the three basins. Our study suggests that considering both processes of erosion and deposition – as well as effects of topography, rainfall, land use types and their interactions – on these processes are important to understand SOC redistribution caused by water erosion.
Additional keywords: Pearl River, soil organic carbon, USPED, water erosion, Yangtze River, Yellow River.
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