Composite Factors during Snowmelt Erosion of Farmland in Black Soil Region of Northeast China: Temperature, Snowmelt Runoff, Thaw Depths and Contour Ridge Culture
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Site
2.2. Snowmelt Erosion Process Observation
2.2.1. Snowmelt Runoff and Soil Loss
2.2.2. Factors and Measurements
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Daily Average Snowmelt Runoff and Soil Loss
- On 23 March only 0.36% of the total snowmelt runoff amount was observed, and the low proportion was due to melted water being partially retained in the snow cover and frozen surface soil.
- On 24 March, as the air temperature continued to rise, the average snowmelt runoff exceeded that of the previous day, accounting for 4.58% of the total soil loss amount (sediment concentration multiplied by total runoff). The result could be attributed to a reduction in the water storage capacity of snow and soil. So, more melt water was released in the form of snowmelt discharge.
- On 25 March, because the air temperature increased rapidly, the snowmelt process was accelerated synchronously. Consequently, 94.49% of the total runoff amount was obtained, including both melted snow and water from thawed soil.
- On 26 March, there was no obvious snow cover. However, 0.57% of total runoff was still collected, which was mainly from the accumulation and thawing of liquid water in the surface soil.
- On 23 March, as the air temperature increased slowly, snow ablation was relatively obvious on the upper slope, resulting in some parts of bare soil. However, most of the site was covered by snow, with frozen surface soil. Meanwhile, snowmelt did not make a large runoff as discussed above. As a result, there was very little soil loss, accounting for only 0.2% of the total amount.
- On 24 March, much more water was released from the melting snow cover and thawed soil, which enabled the snowmelt runoff to reach the outlet, by infiltration, passing along the ridge or flowing through the furrow. Simultaneously, substantial portions of the topsoil began to thaw, making sediment particles much more susceptible to being eroded, especially in several places with broken ridge furrows. Sediment concentration increased rapidly, reaching a maximum of 17.32 kg/m3 at 11:00, and accounted for 7.5% of the total soil loss amount.
- On 25 March, the rates of snowmelt and soil thawing further intensified, leading to the majority of the runoff and soil loss (92.3% of the total amount). Micro-topography also played a significant role in promoting snowmelt erosion [16]. Water stored in ridges and furrows would infiltrate, or run along/through them, leading to much more soil failure in forms of scouring or collapse. Local and whole distinct flow routes in situ were evident, and the centralized snowmelt discharge produced severe erosion.
- No soil loss had been observed on the 26 March.
3.2. Air Temperature
- On 23 March, snowmelt runoff began around 11:00, reaching its peak at 13:00, with a duration of 3.5 h. The air temperature ranged between 12 and 13 °C from 11:30 to 14:00. The sediment concentration showed a similar trend, reaching its maximum value at 12:00, 1 h earlier than the peak discharge. Despite a relatively high sediment concentration occurring momentarily, the first day of snowmelt erosion had limited snowmelt runoff and soil loss.
- On the morning of the 24 March, the sediment concentration gradually increased with the rise in snowmelt runoff, peaking at 13.72 kg/m3 at 11:00, which was later than the peak of snowmelt runoff by 30 min. In the afternoon, as the weather changed from cloudy to sunny, and under the influence of rising temperatures and favorable radiation, the declining runoff showed a small rebound. However, due to insufficient surface soil thawing, particularly in snow-covered regions, the sediment yield rapidly decreased after 14:00. The duration of the snowmelt event was approximately 9 h, during which melted water stored in the snow and frozen surface soil was released to a significant extent, causing the breakage of some ridge furrows and the formation of an obvious water flow path near the outlet with a notable width and depth. While snowmelt water could be retained in the snow and furrows or infiltrate into thawed soil, limiting the runoff amount, the shallow soil thaw depths prevented the easy erosion of soil particles by the snowmelt discharge. Consequently, the sediment concentration was primarily influenced by the thawed surface soil particles in the early stage, while snowmelt erosion became the limiting factor in the later stage due to the slow rate of soil thawing.
- On 25 March, the temperature and radiation improved compared to earlier days, but the weather became cloudy and the temperature slightly declined. The maximum runoff was observed at 13:30, with two peaks observed for both runoff and sediment concentration. The first peak occurred synchronously for both parameters, while the second peak exhibited a 0.5 h delay in sediment concentration compared to the runoff. Based on these observations, it can be inferred that snowmelt runoff is influenced by multiple factors, including snowmelt rate, water from thawed soil, and their relative positions. At the end of the day, most of the snow had melted, and the previously existing melted water in furrows was released, contributing to the complexity of runoff sources and potentially leading to the occurrence of multiple peaks.
- On 26 March, due to a lack of runoff source, only a slight amount of discharge was collected for less than 3 h, and no sediment yield was investigated. The main runoff sources included water from thawing surface soil and a small amount of snow and ice near the outlet.
3.3. Thaw Depths of Surface Soil
- On 24 March, because the snowmelt soil-thawing depths were shallow, even though there was sufficient snowmelt runoff, soil loss was still limited [29]. Runoff lasted from 11:00 to 19:00, while sediment yield lasted until 15:00 with an early peak occurring 1.5 h earlier compared with the runoff.
- On 25 March, there were deep soil-thawing depths throughout the entire day, coupled with an initial snowmelt runoff with a substantial early influx. Although the sediment concentration was marginally lower than the preceding day, the dominant sediment yield resulted from the significant proportion of the total runoff volume.
3.4. Sediment–Discharge Hysteresis Relationship
- On 23 March, snowmelt runoff was small, and topsoil had just begun to thaw, so runoff with weak scouring ability had only one peak. Consequently, only sediment near the collecting outlet could be eroded, forming a clockwise hysteresis.
- On 24 March, as the topsoil further thawed, a certain amount of sediment moved towards the lower slope but could not reach the outlet. This produced a high sediment concentration in the early stage under the influence of snowmelt runoff. However, a clockwise hysteresis showed that in the late stage, sediment turned limited again, because incompletely thawed soil was not easily scoured or flushed. The sediment sources on this day included thawed soil particles near the outlet, as well as sediment accumulated and transported along the slope, particularly from the existing flow route.
- The runoff–sediment relationship on 25 March was relatively complex and exhibited a compound hysteresis containing several parts, i.e., a clockwise hysteresis for the second part and a counter-clockwise for the other two parts. The counter-clockwise hysteresis reflects that the sediment source is farther away from the outlet [33], so the sediment path has a longer distance than that of the flow path. The slope had a length of about 330 m, and an obvious flow route originated from the middle position. Therefore, the long distance caused the repeated process of erosion and sedimentation. Additionally, the melted water also changed at different times and positions. The sediment source was abundant at the first and last stages but became limited after being flushed within the middle stage. These variations led to a changeable hysteresis pattern. Compared to the previous days, on this day, thaw depths of the lower slope were larger than ever, so soil erodibility became larger gradually, and, eventually, the main sediment source became close to the outlet again. Thus, the runoff–sediment hysteresis relationship was significantly influenced by sediment sources affected by incompletely thawed soil and flow route patterns.
3.5. Contour Ridge Culture and Micro-Topography
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Fan, H.; Hou, Y.; Xu, X.; Mi, C.; Shi, H. Composite Factors during Snowmelt Erosion of Farmland in Black Soil Region of Northeast China: Temperature, Snowmelt Runoff, Thaw Depths and Contour Ridge Culture. Water 2023, 15, 2918. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15162918
Fan H, Hou Y, Xu X, Mi C, Shi H. Composite Factors during Snowmelt Erosion of Farmland in Black Soil Region of Northeast China: Temperature, Snowmelt Runoff, Thaw Depths and Contour Ridge Culture. Water. 2023; 15(16):2918. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15162918
Chicago/Turabian StyleFan, Haoming, Yunqing Hou, Xiuquan Xu, Caihong Mi, and Hao Shi. 2023. "Composite Factors during Snowmelt Erosion of Farmland in Black Soil Region of Northeast China: Temperature, Snowmelt Runoff, Thaw Depths and Contour Ridge Culture" Water 15, no. 16: 2918. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15162918