Soil erosion dynamics on the Chinese Loess Plateau in the last 10,000 years

Abstract

Soil erosion assessment and prediction play critical roles in addressing problems associated with erosion control and environmental rehabilita-tion. The past dynamics of soil erosion can provide information valuable for under standing the relation of soil erosion to environmental change and anthropogenic activity. The Chinese Loess Plateau was once a high, flat plain in northwestern China, but now more than 70% of the area is gully-hill dominated, owing to massive soil erosion during the later Quaternary and human-induced accelerated soil erosion in recent centuries. The present article investigates the dynamics of erosion during the Holocene and the driving forces of human activities and bio-climatic changes. Modern soil erosion on the Loess Plateau is a combination of intensive natural erosion and human-induced erosion, the latter being 4 times as intense as the former.