Soil Infiltration Under Different Patterns of Land Use in Gully Erosion Area of the Jinshajiang River Basin

With the original vegetations kept undisturbed, the field double-ring method was used to examine soil infiltration under 4 different patterns of land uses (P-1, waste grassland with active gullies, P-2, waste grassland with stable gullies, P-3, bare land with active gullies, and P-4, farmland) in gully erosion area of Anning River Valley of the Jinshajiang River Basin of Xichang, Southwest China. Results showed P-2 was the highest in average infiltration rate in the initial 21.5 mins and in cumulative infiltration and P-3 was the lowest with the others standing in between. The process of infiltration under 4 different patterns of land use can be described with the equation of костяковА.Н : f(t)=at-b. Vegetation could increase the soil organic matters effectively, and the latter could improve soil structure notably. The higher content of water-stable aggregates 0.25mm, especially of aggregates 3mm increased soil infiltration rate. Root weight is an important biological indicator of soil infiltration. High soil infiltration reduces surface runoff and hence in turn suppresses formation of gullies.