The national census for soil erosion and dynamic analysis in China

The fourth national census for soil erosion was conducted in China during the period of 2010-2012. This census accomplished much: it determined the area of soil loss, both wind and water in China; the total number of erosion gullies; and the area benefitting from soil and water conservation measures in China. This paper presents census methodology, organization and the extent of soil and water conservation measures. Results show that the total soil erosion area is 2.95×106 km2, in which 1.29×106 km2 is water erosion located mainly in regions of high population density, and 1.66×106 km2 is wind erosion mainly in Northwest China. Compared with data from the second remote sensing survey, the areas of water erosion and wind erosion have been reduced by 3.556 × 105 km2 and 2.508 × 105 km2 respectively. There were 666, 719 erosion gullies counted in the Loess Plateau of Northwest China and 295, 663 counted in the black soil region of Northeast China. There were 9.916×105 km2 of land area that benefited from soil and water conservation measures, including 2.003×105 km2 with engineering measures, 7.785×105 km2 with biological measures, and 1.28×104 km2 with other measures. This census will improve the current soil erosion database and will play a key role in future soil loss treatment.