Abstract To maintain a reasonable sediment regulation system in the Loess Plateau, it is critical to determine the effects of check dam construction on sediment production and topographic changes. An indoor simulation experiment was conducted to investigate sediment production at the outlet section of the gully and micro‐topographic changes within the channel before and after dam construction. The results showed that check dam significantly affected the run‐off and sediment transport processes in the watershed. Specifically, the cross‐sectional morphology index ( η ) and the width‐depth ratio increased by 10.23% and 40.44%, respectively, while sediment content and particle size decreased by 39.29% and 18.58%, respectively. Additionally, the relative importance of section parameters and micro‐topographic parameters that affect sediment production rate and particle size was ranked using the random forest algorithm. The roughness after check dam construction was identified as a relatively important topographic factor affecting sediment production and particle selection by erosion. These findings provide valuable information for future check dam construction and development in the Loess Plateau region.
:River scour and siltation, inherently prolonged and multifaceted phenomena, profoundly impact the hydraulic conductivity and navigational safety of waterways, thereby rendering the precise forecasting of their fluctuations a paramount and unresolved challenge. This study embarks on a novel investigative trajectory by examining energy dissipation in rivers, specifically through the scrutiny of empirical hydrological records. Employing the principles of energy balance theory, this study elucidates the intricate connection between energy losses and sedimentation volumes in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and at its confluence with the significant tributary, the Jialing River.Our findings diverge from conventional wisdom, revealing that standard metrics of energy loss, encompassing kinetic, potential, and total mechanical energies, along with momentum losses, inadequately characterize the complexity of sediment deposition processes. In contrast, we demonstrate that the loss of suspension power is a more indicative measure of sedimentation quantity. Through meticulous comparisons of various formulations for calculating suspension power, we identified a formula grounded in the concept of minimal available power dissipation in river systems that exhibits superior accuracy in correlating suspension power losses with sedimentation patterns in river sections. This formula's efficacy is further enhanced when considering aggregate suspension power dissipation under the influence of tributary inflows, enabling refined predictions of sedimentation variations along river segments. In conclusion, the insights derived from this meticulous research contribute significantly to the realm of river resource management and the pursuit of sustainable, high-quality aquatic ecosystem development.
Taking naturally recovering plant communities on the croplands having been retired for different years and distributed on the southern and northern slopes in the Dan-Han River watershed of Shaanxi Province as test objects, an investigation was conducted on their community species composition, diversity characteristics, and community polar ordination. In the study area, the vegetation succession process on the retired croplands followed the stages of annual herb community-->perennial herb community-->shrub-herb community-->arbor-shrub-herb community. The formation period for perennial herb community, shrub-herb community, and arbor-shrub-herb community was about 2-5 a, 7-10 a, and more than 30 a respectively. On the southern and northern slopes, dif ferent types of retired croplands had the same vegetation succession stages, and had small discrepancies in species diversity indices. With increasing retired years, the species diversity indices on the southern slope increased after an initial decrease, while those on the northern slope had a fluctuated increase first, and slightly decreased by the end of the 30 a.
The mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin (MLRYRB) experience continuous daily precipitation during the flood season and superposition tends to exacerbate localized flooding because of both long preceding and succeeding precipitation (PSP), as well as extreme precipitation (EP) components. This study focused on the time cross-section of precipitation in which an EP event (EPE) was defined as involving at least one day of consecutive precipitation. We analyzed spatiotemporal variation characteristics of four types of EPEs (front, late, balanced, and single day) based on daily data obtained from 130 meteorological stations. Precipitation amount and frequency of single day EPE accounted for only 13% and 21%, respectively, while continuous EPE types (front, late, and balanced) that are associated with PSP accounted for 87% and 79%, respectively, confirming the connotation of EPE. The front and late EPEs under the 100-year return level reached 250 mm and 230 mm, respectively. In addition to the southeastern coastal region, a special patch in the central part of the MLRYRB was identified as a return hot spot. Global warming could lead to significant increases in single day and late EPEs at low latitudes in the future, particularly in the southern region. The EPE concept is useful for exploring disaster-causing processes of EP, and it provides a theoretical basis for deriving the precipitation hazard chain and estimation of disaster effects.
Slope erosion is the main source of soil erosion. Simulated slope erosion sediment yield and its development process have great significance for quantitative erosion evaluation at the spatiotemporal scale. In this study, a loess slope erosion experiment was implemented indoors to establish a sediment carrying capacity formula suitable for loess slope erosion. A two-dimensional slope erosion numerical model was developed based on the developed sediment carrying capacity formula, and the model was verified by a simulated indoor slope rainfall erosion experiment. The results showed that the corrected slope sediment transport capacity formula is suitable for loess slopes, which have a higher prediction precision. The developed erosion numerical model simulation was verified by simulated rainfall slope erosion experiments. Regarding the evaluation metrics for slope simulation accuracy, the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) values were 0.83 for the runoff rate and 0.66 for the sediment concentration, R2 values were 0.89 for the runoff rate and 0.73 for the sediment concentration, and the relative bias (RB) values were -5.02% for the runoff rate and -1.02% for the sediment concentration. The spatial contribution rate of slope erosion was analysed based on the simulation results, and the most severely eroded areas were the middle and lower parts of the slope. The erosion contribution rate reached 69.59% on the 1-4 m area of the slope. The research results can further improve loessal slope erosion process simulation and prediction.
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