Exploring effects of rainfall intensity on soil erosion at the catchment scale using modified semmed model at the Zuli River Basin, western of loess Plateau, China

Serious soil erosion is both the cause and the result of eco-environment degradation in Zuli River Basin (ZRB) of Chinese loess Plateau. The spatial distribution of soil erosion of ZRB in one humid year 1999 and dry year 2001 were estimated by modified SEMMED model which forced by the observed precipitation data, Digital Elevation Model, land use data derived from remote sensing data, and other field survey data under GIS environment. The results of simulated soil erosion suggest that the most serious soil erosion occurred in areas around Gejiacha, Caotan, Gejiazai and Jingyuan. The soil erosion in central and southern part of ZRB is less than that of Northern part. The Quwu Mountain, Yueliang Mountain and Huajialing have high vegetation cover and less soil erosion. These results indicate that the soil erosion is highly sensitive to the great interannual variability of rainfall intensity in arid regions such as ZRB.