Analysis of soil erosion on typical forest and grassland in Xihanshui River Basin

In order to provide data for agriculture and soil & water conservation efforts, Cesium-137 technique was used to quantify soil erosion on typical forest and grassland in the Xihanshui River Basin, Cesium-137 technique was conducted by three steps: field sampling, nuclide content determination, and erosion rate calculation. The local Cesium-137 reference inventories range from 1 600 to 2 402 Bq/m2, and the average reference inventory is 2 022 Bq/m2. It shows exponential decrease of mass concentration and inventory with depth down to an undisturbed soil profile. For different land use, slight erosion occurs at grass land, deposition or no significant loss occurs at forest, and moderate erosion occurs at revegetated land. The order of soil erosion intensity is as following: forestmiddle>lower. The vegetation cover affects soil erosion and deposition rates, and in general, the rate of soil erosion is inversely proportional to the vegetation cover.