Impact of Land Use Changes on Soil Erodibility in the Outer Himalayas

Abstract

Land use change hurts soil characteristics such as permeability, soil texture and aggregate stability, soil erodibility etc. which make soils susceptible to erosion and degradation.  The outer Himalayan region is prone to large-scale soil erosion by water owing to the vast disparity in the slope gradient, undulating relief, largely mountainous joined with high-intensity rainfall and lithological characteristics of these rocks. Soil erodibility, one of the key factors affecting the rate of erosion can be estimated by using various soil erodibility indices. In examining erodibility indices across various land use changes, it was evident that both the clay ratio (CR) and modified clay ratio (MCR) escalated as land use shifts from forest to more disturbed environments. As we transit from forest to agriculture, these ratios increased and were even more marked in the transition from forest to wasteland. The erosional behaviour as per CR and MCR in agriculture land use transitions could be arranged in the order that forest < agriculture

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土地利用变化对喜马拉雅山外围地区土壤易侵蚀性的影响

土地利用的变化会损害土壤特性，如渗透性、土壤质地和集聚稳定性、土壤可侵蚀性等，从而使土壤容易受到侵蚀和退化。 喜马拉雅山外围地区由于坡度悬殊、地势起伏、多为山地、降雨强度大以及岩石的岩性特征，很容易发生大规模的水土流失。土壤可侵蚀性是影响侵蚀速度的关键因素之一，可通过各种土壤可侵蚀性指数进行估算。在研究各种土地利用变化的侵蚀性指数时，可以明显看出，随着土地利用从森林环境向更受干扰的环境转变，粘土比率（CR）和改良粘土比率（MCR）都在上升。当我们从森林过渡到农业时，这些比率也随之增加，而在从森林过渡到荒地时更为明显。在农业用地的过渡中，CR 和 MCR 的侵蚀行为可以按照森林 < 农业 < 建设用地 < 荒地的顺序排列。在荒地的用途转换中，较高的 CR 和 MCR 表明在土壤管理方面存在潜在挑战，而在向农业和森林的转换中，较低的 CR 和 MCR 表明这些特定用途的土壤条件更为有利。CR 和 MCR 比率表明，比率越低，粘土堆积越多，侵蚀越小。这些信息对于了解土地用途变化对土壤侵蚀和健康的影响以及指导不同生态环境下的有效土地管理方法至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。