Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sediment transport characteristics at different erosion stages for non-hardened roads of the Shenfu Coalfield, west China.

GUO Ming-ming1, WANG Wen-long1,2, LI Jian-ming1, HUANG Peng-fei3, ZHU Bao-cai1,4, WANG Zhen5, LUO Ting6   

  1. (1State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Agriculture on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 2Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 3Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Control, Jiangxi Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Nanchang 330029, China; 4College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, Shanxi, China; 5Huadong Institute of Water Conservation and Hydropower Survey and Design, China Engineering Consulting Corporation, Hangzhou 310014, China; 6Hangzhou Earth Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310000, China)
  • Online:2015-02-18 Published:2015-02-18

Abstract: Non-hardened roads formed in the production of the Shenfu Coalfield have a unique condition of underlying surface. The road surface is composed of a regolith layer with a certain thickness resulted from longterm rolling and thus, is characterized by weakened antiscourabilty and antierodibility. In contrast, soil layer below the regolith has a higher bulk density and antierodibility. The processes of soil erosion on the nonhardened roads exhibit some differences under rainfall condition. The process of sediment transport and the relationship between sediment transport rate and erosion factors at different erosion stages were studied on nonhardened roads with slope degrees ranging from 3° to 12° (3°, 6°, 9°, 12°) by a field experiment under artificial rainfall. Results showed that the first peak of sediment transport on the regolith surface was observed at the sheet erosion stage. Sheet erosion occurred only at 3° slope degree, with an average variation coefficient of 0.07 for sediment transport rate. Rills in every testing began to develop at slope degrees of 6° to 12° about 15 min after runoff initiation. At the sheet erosion stage, the process of sediment transport fluctuated considerably at rainfall intensities of >1.5 mm·min-1, but the differences in its variation were little at the three slope degrees, with average variation coefficients of 0.20, 0.19 and 0.16, respectively. Rainfall intensity had a more significant impact on sediment transport rate than slope degree. The process of sediment transport at the rill erosion stage fluctuated, but the fluctuation was obviously smaller than that at the sheet erosion stage, with average variation coefficients of 0.05, 0.09 and 0.10 at the three slope degrees. Many wide and shallow rills evolved at the rill erosion stage. The sediment transport rate could be well predicted by a power function of rainfall intensity and slope degree at the sheet and rill erosion stages. The stable sediment transport rate for all the tests was linearly related to runoff rate and sediment concentration.