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Wind
Erosion on Field in a Semiarid Area of China
Xuewen Huang, Halin Zhao, and Bin Xu
Abstract
Wind erosion is a frequent phenomenon in Northern China where the climate ranges from
arid, and semiarid to dry subhumid. Millions of hectares of land have been damaged from
wind erosion. This paper reports the field methods used for measuring the soil loss, and
soil flux distribution of wind erosion in Naiman, Inner Mongolia, China. In addition, the
soil loss with varying topography and residue cover was measured; soil quality affected by
wind erosion was also tested. Typical erosion rates on crop land reach 30 to 200 t ha-1
from winter to next spring. Increasing residue cover reduces the erosion. The erosion
rates on cropland created by ploughing grassland reach 500 to 1400 t ha-1
depending on topography. In eroded land, fine soil particles, soil organic matter and
nutrients declined. In contrast, the pH value increased. Wind erosion impacts soil
properties more severely on eroded sites than on deposition sites. |
