Regional Evaluation of Wind Erosion of the Loess Plateau in Pengyang County,Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

The loess plateau in China is well-known for its severe water erosion. A nationwide soil erosion survey discovered that wind erosion of the loess land is also greatly concerned. The severity of wind erosion for each land use in Pengyang County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, was evaluated according to the national standard of soil erosion classification. The evaluation system includes a GIS database, an evaluation indicator system and a classification system for land and land use. The erodible nature of soil and annual soil loss of the most erodible land were obtained as follows:(1) Croplands plowed and harrowed in late autumn were the most erodible land,with an erosion intensity of medium grade and an erodible proportion of 46%; (2) The erodible proportion of natural grasslands was between 19.3% and 21.5%, whose erosion intensity was of mostly tolerable grade; (3) When it came to the whole county, there was 21.3% of the total area in tolerable grade in terms of wind erosion intensity, 42.1% slight and 34.8% medium.