Land use and cover changes associated with specific topography have an accelerating or retarding impact on soil loss, particularly in Fig. 7. Soil erosion rates for slope gradients under different land uses on the Loess Plateau, China, for the period 2000 to 2010.
W. Sun et al. / Catena 121 (2014) 151–163 159 hilly and gully areas on the Loess Plateau. Cropping in mountainous areas with steep slopes is responsible for serious erosion, resulting in the development of rills and gullies on the Loess Plateau (Feng et al., 2010).
Erosion on flat land, even with cultivation and cropping, is low because with no or little slope, there is negligible water runoff to carry soil away. Our study shows that the lightest soil erosion occurs on cropland with a flat landform. This area was inherently much less
erosion prone than the other areas, mainly due to the more favorable topography. Most of the increase in soil erosion on cropland was due to the conversion of steep slopes to cropland and the degradation of grassland by overgrazing (Gutierrez et al., 2009).
Soil erosion was highly related to the LS factors. The highest LS values were found on mid slopes distributed in mountain areas on the Loess Plateau, followed by upslope, ridge, downslope and valley (Table 4).
To reduce or even prevent soil erosion, the conversion of sloping land to cropland and deforestation should be discouraged, and the restoration of erosion prone land by conservation planting, particularly with woody vegetation, should be encouraged.