Field studies on the influence of rainfall intensity, vegetation cover and slope length on soil moisture infiltration on typical watersheds of the Loess Plateau, China
Zimiao He
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorGuodong Jia
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorZiqiang Liu
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhenyao Zhang
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xinxiao Yu
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Correspondence
Xinxiao Yu, Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35 Qinghua East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected].
Peiqing Xiao, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Loss Process and Control on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, 450003, Zhengzhou China. E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorPeiqing Xiao
Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Loss Process and Control on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorZimiao He
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorGuodong Jia
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorZiqiang Liu
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhenyao Zhang
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xinxiao Yu
Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Correspondence
Xinxiao Yu, Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35 Qinghua East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: [email protected].
Peiqing Xiao, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Loss Process and Control on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, 450003, Zhengzhou China. E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorPeiqing Xiao
Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Loss Process and Control on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this author[Correction added on 19 October 2020, after first online publication: The author name and affiliation of Peiqing Xiao has been corrected in this current version.]
Funding information: Beijing Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-environmental Improvement with Forestry and Fruit Trees, Grant/Award Number: PXM2018_014207_000024; The National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 41430747 41571276 41701326; Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Loss Process and Control on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Grant/Award Number: 2016004
Abstract
Soil moisture is a key process in the hydrological cycle. During ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau, soil moisture status has undergone important changes, and infiltration of soil moisture during precipitation events is a key link affecting water distribution. Our study aims to quantify the effects of vegetation cover, rainfall intensity and slope length on total infiltration and the spatial variation of water flow. Infiltration data from the upper, middle and lower slopes of a bare slope, a natural grassland and an artificial shrub grassland were obtained using a simulated rainfall experiment. The angle of the study slope was 15° and rainfall intensity was set at 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 mm/hr. The effect these factors have on soil moisture infiltration was quantified using main effect analysis. Our results indicate that the average infiltration depth (ID) of a bare slope, a grassland slope and an artificial shrub grassland slope was 46.7–73.3, 60–80, and 60–93.3 cm, respectively, and average soil moisture storage increment was 3.5–5.7, 5.0–9.4, and 5.7–10.2 mm under different rainfall intensities, respectively. Heavy rainfall intensity and vegetation cover reduced the difference of soil infiltration in the 0–40 cm soil layer, and rainfall intensity increased surface infiltration differences on the bare slope, the grassland slope and the artificial shrub grassland slope. Infiltration was dominated by rainfall intensity, accounting for 63.03–88.92%. As rainfall continued, the contribution of rainfall intensity to infiltration gradually decreased, and the contribution of vegetation cover and slope length to infiltration increased. The interactive contribution was: rainfall intensity * vegetation cover > vegetation cover * slope length > rainfall * slope length. In the grass and shrub grass slopes, lateral flow was found at a depth of 23–37 cm when the slope length was 5–10 m, this being related to the difference in soil infiltration capacity between different soil layers formed by the spatial cross-connection of roots.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Data used to support our findings are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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