Causes and Its Impacts of Soil Erosion in the Rocky Mountain Area of Northern China

摘要

Soil erosion has been the most prominent issue in China's ecological environment. The rocky mountain area of Northern China is an important typical area of soil erosion and one of the most dangerous regions of potential erosion in China characterized by more stones in thinner soils and the land surface is easily reduced to sand gravel or rocky desertification. Concentrated rainfall with frequent rainstorms, broken topography with steep slope and highly dense gully are important natural factors resulting in soil erosion. However, unreasonable land utilization especially slope farmland aggravates soil erosion. Soil erosion results in land degradation, threatens regional water resources security, intensifies regional poverty and restricts socio-economic development. Sloping cultivated land transformation will be the necessary choice for soil and water conservation and ecological construction in this region.