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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 16390

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Aidi Huo

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School of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Interests: hydroecology; watershed hydrological models; extreme hydrological events under climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues:

The relationship between the soil erosion principle and geoscience is mainly reflected in the influence of geomorphology, geology and geography on our understanding of the amount of soil erosion and the soil erosion process. Meanwhile, soil erosion processes such as hydraulic erosion, wind erosion and gravity erosion play a certain role in shaping the terrain. All kinds of erosion landforms on the ground are factors affecting soil erosion and are the results of soil erosion participation.

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental problems related to soil degradation and crop reduction worldwide, which seriously threatens the sustainable development of society and the environment. The change in soil erosion is generally considered to be the result of the comprehensive action of natural factors and human activities. With the enhancement of the influence degree and expansion of human activities, these activities have gradually become the key factor leading to the change in soil erosion. Research on the relationship between human activities and soil erosion change at a regional scale is of great significance for the macro-planning of soil erosion control. It has been found that the action of human activities on soil erosion is a multiphase nonlinear system with various methods, complex processes and intensities, and its behavior is difficult to predict. Research on the relationship between human activities and soil erosion change, and on how to monitor and warn of soil erosion change are urgent scientific problems in the current research of soil and water conservation.

In solving practical hydrological problems and studying hydrological laws, a hydrologic mathematical model can give full play to the advantages of mathematical physics methods, empirical correlation methods and generalized reasoning methods, and there has been rapid development in the past 20 years. Understanding the changes in soil erosion and infiltration activity in key regions helps establish an early warning system for key regions of gully consolidation, tableland protection and natural disasters in loess areas. However, complete risk reduction seems impractical in such a framework, especially since the delocalization of anthropogenic activities is often not feasible, and co-existence with natural disasters is acceptable. In these cases, robust approaches, such as hydrological simulation for erosion and infiltration, appear to be the most promising approaches to reducing natural disasters and improving societal resilience.

Given this scientific framework, we would like to invite scientists involved in this research subject area to contribute to this Special Issue, which will focus broadly on analysis, experiments or simulations of hydrological processes that lead to erosion and infiltration, as well as analysis of early warning definitions based on rainfall or soil hydrological monitoring. Therefore, manuscripts on the evolution of hydrological processes of erosion and infiltration in loess areas through analysis, monitoring and modeling, as well as studies aimed at assessing changes in seepage, aquifer changes and other indicators that can reflect erosion and infiltration due to human activities, are welcome.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Aidi Huo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

loess plateau
hydrological modeling
human activities
soil erosion
secondary geological hazards

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 476 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Studies on Grass Germination and Growth on Post-Flotation Sediments

by Grzegorz Żurek and Danuta Martyniak

Sustainability 2025, 17(8), 3438; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083438 - 12 Apr 2025

Viewed by 263

Abstract

The sediments remaining after copper flotation (here referred to as to flotation tailings) are generally characterized by nutrient deficiency and heavy metal enrichment, presenting significant obstacles to vegetation establishment and the development of sustainable ecosystems. This research aimed to evaluate the germination and growth performance of eight grass species on these tailings compared to reference conditions. Seed germination was assessed across flotation tailings, sand, and controlled laboratory environments. Initial establishment success was determined by measuring seedling height and root length three weeks after sowing in a glasshouse pot experiment. The findings revealed that Bromus inermis, Bromus catharticus, and Elytrigia elongata were capable of germinating and growing successfully in the challenging substrate, indicating their potential role in sustainable land management. Despite demonstrating excellent germination and seedling growth under test conditions, Bromus tectorum was deemed unsuitable due to its potential for invasive behavior, which could threaten the sustainability of revegetation efforts. Furthermore, species commonly employed for the revegetation of difficult terrains, including Festuca arundinacea, Festuca rubra, and Lolium perenne, proved entirely ineffective for the sustainable treatment of these flotation tailings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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15 pages, 1883 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation Index System for Thermokarst Lake Susceptibility: An Effective Tool for Disaster Warning on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China

by Lan Li, Yilu Zhao, Xuan Li, Wankui Ni and Fujun Niu

Sustainability 2025, 17(4), 1464; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041464 - 11 Feb 2025

Viewed by 571

Abstract

In the context of global warming, landscapes with ice-rich permafrost, such as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), are highly vulnerable. The expansion of thermokarst lakes erodes the surrounding land, leading to collapses of various scales and posing a threat to nearby infrastructure and the environment. Assessing the susceptibility of thermokarst lakes in remote, data-scarce areas remains a challenging task. In this study, Landsat imagery and human–computer interaction were employed to improve the accuracy of thermokarst lake classification. The study also identified the key factors influencing the occurrence of thermokarst lakes, including the lake density, soil moisture (SM), slope, vegetation, snow cover, ground temperature, precipitation, and permafrost stability (PS). The results indicate that the most susceptible areas cover 19.02% of the QTP’s permafrost region, primarily located in southwestern Qinghai, northeastern Tibet, and the Hoh Xil region. This study provides a framework for mapping the spatial distribution of thermokarst lakes and contributes to understanding the impact of climate change on the QTP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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16 pages, 8466 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Temporal Dynamics of Ecosystem Service Value in Qinghai Province (2000–2018): Trends, Drivers, and Implications

by Lan Li, Yilu Zhao, Xuan Li, Wankui Ni, Kuanyao Zhao, Ziguang He, Mohamed EL-Sayed Abuarab, Ahmed Elbeltagi and Adnan Ahmed

Sustainability 2025, 17(4), 1458; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041458 - 11 Feb 2025

Viewed by 585

Abstract

Ecosystem service value (ESV) represents the benefits that people obtain directly or indirectly from ecosystems. Based on the land use/land cover (LULC) data of Qinghai Province in 2000, 2010, and 2018, combined with the equivalent factor method, land use dynamic degree, land use transition matrix, and coefficient of sensitivity (CS), the ESV of Qinghai Province is calculated. This study found that ESV in Qinghai Province exhibited significant variations. It has increased from CNY 750.77 billion to CNY 772.4 billion from 2000 to 2018. The results show that grassland and unused land are the main land use types, with a total coverage of more than 88% in the study area. The land use dynamic degree result demonstrates that the dynamic degree of built-up land is the highest. The CS analysis found that the CSs of the ESV of each land use type in Qinghai Province were less than 1 during 3 periods, 2000–2010, 2010–2018, and 2000–2018, indicating that the ESV in the area lacks elasticity and the result is reliable. This study can provide scientific support for the sustainable development of ecosystems and land use planning in Qinghai Province under global climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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18 pages, 1519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Soil Erosion on Soil and Plant Properties with a Consequence on Related Ecosystem Services

by Radoslava Kanianska, Miriam Kizeková, Ľubica Jančová, Jozef Čunderlík and Zuzana Dugátová

Sustainability 2024, 16(16), 7037; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167037 - 16 Aug 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2824

Abstract

Erosion is a process often driven by land management deteriorating or changing soil properties along the slopes, with consequences on ecosystem services. In a model area with Stagnic Cambisol, with two different types of land use (grassland—GL and arable land—AL), on an erosion transect in three different hillslope positions (upper, middle, and lower), in two different depths (0–10 and 35–45 cm), we observed the impact of soil erosion on soil and plant properties and ecosystem services by use of direct measurements and models. In GL, soil available potassium (SK), soil available phosphorus (SP) and pH increased both downward along the slope and in soil depth. A significantly (p < 0.01) higher content of plant nutrients (PN, PP, and PK) and shoot biomass was recorded in the lower part of the hillslope. In AL, soil parameters (pH, SOC, SN, and SOC/SN) reached the lowest values at the middle hillslope position at the shallowest depth. A relatively negligible annual average soil loss was recorded for GL (0.76 t/ha/yr). To the contrary, a very high rate of soil erosion was found for AL with maize silage. The actual soil moisture was 50% higher in GL compared to AL, which was reflected also in the soil water deficit index (SWDI) being more favorable for GL. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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14 pages, 7166 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Water Quality from the Zimny Sztok Spring (Southern Poland)—Preliminary Results

by Marek Ruman and Dominika Dąbrowska

Sustainability 2024, 16(12), 4962; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16124962 - 11 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1338

Abstract

Enabling citizens to have access to good-quality water is an important challenge in the 21st century. Water quality in springs located in urban areas may deteriorate as a result of natural and anthropogenic factors. The quality of water in springs is influenced not only by rock weathering, evapotranspiration and climate change but also by the lack of sustainable resource use. Anthropogenic activities, including industrial and domestic and agricultural activities, may not only lead to an increase in pollutants such as nitrates, chlorides and heavy metals but also to the development of dangerous bacteria. Research on water quality was conducted in two series of measurements at the Zimny Sztok spring (southern Poland), located in an urban space. The results of the analyses indicate that the waters of this spring, despite anthropogenic pressure, exceeded the permissible values for drinking water only in terms of the total number of microorganisms. Unfortunately, this was not confirmed by Water Quality Index (WQI) values. These were approximately equal to 99 in the first measurement series and about 41 in the second series. Maintaining appropriate water quality is one of the goals of rational water management, and the constant control of selected parameters in the water falls within the scope of the concept of smart city/smart water. The example of this spring shows that the water was used by residents without information about its current physicochemical parameters and bacteriological composition. This problem can be solved in the future by implementing a monitoring system for this point. The aim of this work was to examine the quality of water in the spring, use the WQI to determine the potential risks and present the general problem of people consuming water from urban sources without knowing about their parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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25 pages, 5943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Study on Solving Large Pore Heat Transfer Simulation in Malan Loess Based on Volume Averaging Method Combined with CT Scan Images

by Yangchun Lu, Ting Lu, Yudong Lu, Bo Wang, Guanghao Zeng and Xu Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12389; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612389 - 15 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1394

Abstract

Malan loess is a wind-formed sediment in arid and semi-arid regions and is an important constituent of the Earth’s critical zone. Therefore, the study of the relationship between microstructure and heat transfer in Malan loess is of great significance for the in-depth understanding of the heat transfer mechanism and the accurate prediction of the heat transfer properties of intact loess. In order to quantitatively characterize the heat transfer processes in the two-phase medium of solid particles and gas pores in the intact loess, this study used modern computed tomography to CT scan the Malan loess in Huan County, Gansu Province, the western part of the Loess Plateau, China and used the specific yield of the intact Malan loess as the parameter basis for extracting the threshold segmentation of the large pores in the scanned images for the three-dimensional reconstruction of the connected large pores. An experimental space for heat conduction of intact Malan loess was constructed, and the surface temperature of Malan loess was measured on the surface of the space with a thermal imager. The simulation of the heat conduction process was carried out using the solution program in AVIZO (2019) software using the volume averaging method combined with CT scanning to reconstruct the 3D pores. The experiments of heat conduction in the intact Malan loess showed that for a given external temperature pressure, the temperature decreases along the heat flow direction as a whole. The temperature of the pores in the normal plane along the heat flow direction is higher than the temperature of the solid skeleton. Abnormal temperature points were formed at the junction of the surface and internal pores of Maran loess, and the temperature of the jointed macropores was about 1 °C higher at the surface of the sample than that of the surrounding solid skeleton. Simulation of heat conduction in Malan loess showed that the heat transfer process in Malan loess was preferentially conducted along the large pores and then the heat was transferred to the surrounding Malan loess particle skeleton. The simulation results of heat conduction in Malan loess were in high agreement with the experimental results of heat conduction in Malan loess, which verifies the reliability of the calculated model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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19 pages, 8010 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Variation in the Coupling Relationship between Human Activities and Soil Erosion—A Case Study in the Weihe River Basin

by Zhixin Zhao, Aidi Huo, Qi Liu, Jianbing Peng, Ahmed Elbeltagi, Mohamed EL-Sayed Abuarab and Mohamed Said Desouky Abu-Hashim

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10785; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410785 - 10 Jul 2023

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 1955

Abstract

Studying the relationship between human activities and soil erosion on a regional scale is of great significance for macro-decision-making in soil erosion prevention and control. The entropy weight method and RUSLE model are used to analyze the spatiotemporal variation in human activity intensity (HAI) and soil erosion in the Weihe River Basin (WRB) from 2005 to 2020. Through geographic detectors and a four-quadrant model, the impact of various driving factors and the coupling degree of the human–land relationship are studied. The results showed: (1) During the past 15 years, the moderate, high, strong, and severe erosion areas in the WRB decreased by 9.88%, 35.89%, 45.17%, and 70.05%, respectively. The ratio of the historical sand transport modulus to the RUSLE model result is 0.83, indicating that the results obtained by the RUSLE model can be used for further analysis. (2) Slight and weak degrees account for 80% in the northwest region. The high and strong regions are mainly distributed in the Shaanxi section, accounting for 3% of the total basin. (3) The coupling between human activities and soil erosion is constantly strengthening, and the joint effect of pop and crop is the main reason for the slowdown and spatial differences in soil erosion. This indicates that the ecological environment became stable. These findings contribute by acting as references for soil and water conservation and management in the WRB to promote a harmonious relationship between humans and the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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Review

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22 pages, 4084 KiB

Open AccessReview

Airport Runoff Water: State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives

by Anna Maria Sulej-Suchomska, Danuta Szumińska, Miguel de la Guardia, Piotr Przybyłowski and Żaneta Polkowska

Sustainability 2024, 16(18), 8176; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16188176 - 19 Sep 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2479

Abstract

The increase in the quantity and variety of contaminants generated during routine airport infrastructure maintenance operations leads to a wider range of pollutants entering soil and surface waters through runoff, causing soil erosion and groundwater pollution. A significant developmental challenge is ensuring that airport infrastructure meets high-quality environmental management standards. It is crucial to have effective tools for monitoring and managing the volume and quality of stormwater produced within airports and nearby coastal areas. It is necessary to develop methodologies for determining a wide range of contaminants in airport stormwater samples and assessing their toxicity to improve the accuracy of environmental status assessments. This manuscript aims to showcase the latest advancements (2010–2024 update) in developing methodologies, including green analytical techniques, for detecting a wide range of pollutants in airport runoff waters and directly assessing the toxicity levels of airport stormwater effluent. An integrated chemical and ecotoxicological approach to assessing environmental pollution in airport areas can lead to precise environmental risk assessments and well-informed management decisions for sustainable airport operations. Furthermore, this critical review highlights the latest innovations in remediation techniques and various strategies to minimize airport waste. It shifts the paradigm of soil and water pollution management towards nature-based solutions, aligning with the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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15 pages, 774 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Critical Analysis of Geological Hazard Risk Assessment Including Future Perspectives

by Yuxiang Cheng, Yue Gan, Chunmei Shi, Aidi Huo, Yinghui Pei, Yu Song, Xing Wang and Adnan Ahmed

Sustainability 2024, 16(9), 3701; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093701 - 28 Apr 2024

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3911

Abstract

Geological hazards are widely distributed, cause huge losses, and have always been the focus of attention for engineering and environmental geologists. Geological hazard evaluation is the basis of research and has important theoretical significance for preventing and controlling geological hazards. Therefore, geological hazard evaluation has become the focus of engineering and environmental geology. The question of how to build a universal index system model of geological hazard evaluation is an urgent problem that needs to be solved in geological hazard evaluation. Based on a large amount of previous research data, this paper takes landslide hazard as an example and systematically expounds the main problems that need to be solved in the current geological hazard evaluation from five aspects: basic concept, evaluation scope and accuracy, evaluation index system and evaluation criteria, evaluation method, and applicability of evaluation results. A landslide hazard assessment index system model is proposed, which applies to all regions, including all of the factors that may affect the formation of landslides. It is also hoped that this will be used as an example to establish various types of disaster evaluation and assessment systems. If the parameter has no value in the assessment process, it can be processed as 0. On this basis, further research is suggested from the perspectives of the geological hazard evaluation level, geological hazard evaluation theory, and method. To provide thoughts on and suggestions for geological hazard risk assessment method research, standard revision, investigation and evaluation, and risk management and control need to be considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Systems)

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