IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v310y2025ics0378377425000873.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cover-management impacts on runoff and sediment dynamics at different slope positions in Northeast China

Author

Listed:
  • Zeng, Jianhui
  • Guo, Zhonglu
  • Li, Dongyao
  • Hua, Li
  • Li, Wei

Abstract

The C-factor of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) reflects the impact of vegetation cover and management practices, playing a crucial role in predicting soil erosion. Slope position on rolling hills significantly affects soil properties and crop growth due to spatial variations in erosion intensity, potentially influencing soil erosion. However, few studies have quantified the effects of corn growth on runoff and sediment processes across different slope positions on long gentle slopes. The simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to investigate the temporal dynamics of runoff and sediment via rescaled range and wavelet analyses and determine the C-factor across slope positions during corn growth under three management practices: bare soil (CK), corn planting (CR), and corn planting with straw mulching (CRST). Results showed that runoff peak occurred at the maturing stage, with increases of 47.90 %, 127.61 %, and 259.53 % under CK, CR and CRST, respectively. The highest runoff rates were observed at the lower slope as it approached the late growth stage. Straw mulching mitigated frequency-domain variations in sediment and runoff, extended the primary cycle of sediment and runoff variations; therefore, delayed the response of runoff and sediment processes to rainfall. Management practices effectively postponed the peak sediment yield. The sediment yield on the middle slope (MS) was 71.46 % higher than that on the lower slope (LS) and 162.08 % higher than that on the upper slope (US). At the MS, the C-factor increased by an average of 106.69 % and 214.32 % individually under CR and CRST compared to other slope positions. Corn planting primarily reduced sediment by decreasing runoff, when runoff surpassed 600 mL·m⁻²min⁻¹ , straw mulching altered the runoff-sediment relationship to further reduce sediment loads thus reducing sediment. This study provides a theoretical support for studying the erosion processes in farmlands, and emphasizes the variation of the C-factor at different slope positions.

Suggested Citation

  • Zeng, Jianhui & Guo, Zhonglu & Li, Dongyao & Hua, Li & Li, Wei, 2025. "Cover-management impacts on runoff and sediment dynamics at different slope positions in Northeast China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:310:y:2025:i:c:s0378377425000873
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109373
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425000873
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109373?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:310:y:2025:i:c:s0378377425000873. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.