Slope spectrum variation in a simulated loess watershed

Abstract

A simulated loess watershed, where the loess material and relief properly represent the true loess surface, is adopted to investigate the variation in slope spectrum with loess watershed evolution. The evolution of the simulated loess watershed was driven by the exogenetic force of artificial rainfall. For a period of three months, twenty artificial rainfall events with different intensities and durations were carried out. In the process, nine DEM data sets, each with 10 mm grid resolution, were established by the method of close-range photogrammetry. The slope spectra were then extracted from these DEMs. Subsequent series of carefully designed quantitative analyses indicated a strong relationship between the slope spectrum and the evolution of the simulated loess watershed.

Quantitative indices of the slope spectrum varied regularly following the evolution of the simulated loess watershed. Mean slope, slope spectrum information entropy (H), terrain driving force (T_d), Mean patch area (AREA_MN), Contagion Index (CONTAG), and Patch Cohesion Index (COHESION) kept increasing following the evolution of the simulated watershed, while skewness (S), Perimeter-Area Fractal Dimension (PAFRAC), and Interspersion and Juxtaposition Index (IJI) represented an opposite trend. All the indices changed actively in the early and active development periods, but slowly in the stable development periods. These experimental results indicate that the time series of slope spectra was able to effectively depict the slope distribution of the simulated loess watershed, thus presenting a potential method for modeling loess landforms.

Keywords

slope spectrum / evolution / simulated watershed / loess landform

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41171299 and 41271438), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (164320H116) and the foundation of State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau(10501-1217, K318009902-13). We are also grateful to Dr. Josef Strobl for his constructive critique of the manuscript. The constructive criticisms and suggestions from anonymous reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg